Handbook of Media Economics, vol 1B

experiments on online platforms are becoming increasingly common, allowing

researchers and organizations to answer questions in a simple, straightforward manner.

In fact, the main challenge to implementing a field experiment may be finding areas

of mutual interest between the organization and the researchers. As discussed above,

one challenge is that a firm’s goals and a researcher’s goals do not overlap entirely. Thus

far, some firms have been open to researchers pursuing topics outside of the narrow short-

run needs of the firm. Other firms with privacy concerns, such as Google, restrict access

to data. Others with strategic concerns, such as Amazon, also restrict access.

12.2.2 Impact of UGC on Demand: Data, Methods, and Results

An abundance of ...