Engineering computer-based laboratories for research in the social sciences

Real-time process-control computer technology can now be effectively utilized to facilitate experimental research in the social sciences. The impact of such technology on the quality of experimental research in behavioral science laboratories suggests that computer-controlled experimentation is of as great a use in the social sciences as it has become in the physical sciences. This paper summarizes the kinds of behavioral research suitable for computer control, reviews the computer technology which has been used by social science experimenters, presents a framework integrating the research to date and concludes with a stage hypothesis for future developments.