Social Experiments : Methods for Design and Evaluation

Two social psychologists outline a rigorous and rational approach to social experiments -- programmes designed to test new solutions to social problems. The basic principles of experimental design as applied to the problems of social experiments and the practicalities of measurement, collaboration and choosing the mode of research that is most applicable are discussed -- as is the problem of utilizing the results of social experimentation.

Michelle Fine is a Distinguished Professor of Critical Psychology, Women’s Studies, American Studies and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY and founding faculty member of The Public Science Project. Fine taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1981 – 1991, and then came to the Graduate Center. She has served as an expert witness in a range of educational , racial and gender justice class action lawsuits including girls suing for access to Central High School in Philadelphia and The Citadel in South Carolina, students of color suing for racial equity in Wedowee Alabama, youth fighting for equitable financing and facilities in Williams v. State of California, and most recently a finance inequity lawsuit for the children of Baltimore.  She has authored many “classics” – books and articles on high school push outs, adolescent sexuality – called the “missing discourse of desire,” the national evaluation of the impact of college in prison, the struggles and strength of the children of incarcerated adults, the wisdom of Muslim American youth. Fine has been recognized with a range of awards from Stanford University and Teachers College Columbia, the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association, including:

 

California School of Psychology, Stanford University                                     2019

Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker                                                                                            

Teachers College, Columbia University Distinguished Service Medal 2019                           Commencement Speaker

 

Theodore Sarbin Award                                                                                              2018

Society of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24)

 

Education Law Center Education Justice Award                                                          2018

Education Law Center, Newark New Jersey

 

American Psychological Foundation Arthur W. Staats Lecture                         2018

 

Distinguished Contributions to Qualitative Inquiry Award                               2017

Division 5 of the American Psychology Association

 

 

 Recent publications include:

 

Fine, M. (2017) Just Methods: Expanding the Methodological Imagination.  New York: Teachers College Press.

 

Fabricant, M. and Fine, M. (2013) The Changing Landscape of Public Education and the Lives Left Behind.  Paradigm Publishers.

 

Sirin, S. and Fine, M. (2008) Muslim American Youth : Understanding Hyphenated identities through Multiple Methods.  New York: New York University Press.

 

Fine, M., Torre, M., Boudin,K., Bowen, I., Clark, J., Hylton, D., Martinez, M., “Missy,”, Roberts, R., Smart, P. and Upegui, D. (2001) Changing Minds: The Impact of College in a Maximum Security Women’s Prison. www.publicscienceproject.com