TY - JOUR

T1 - Experiments and evidence in sustainability science

T2 - A typology

AU - Caniglia, Guido

AU - Schäpke, Niko

AU - Lang, Daniel J.

AU - Abson, David J.

AU - Lüderitz, Christopher

AU - Wiek, Arnim

AU - Laubichler, Manfred

AU - Gralla, Fabienne

AU - von Wehrden, Henrik

PY - 2017/12/15

Y1 - 2017/12/15

N2 - Experiments are crucial for sustainability science because they allow researchers to produce evidence about the causes of sustainability problems and about the effectiveness of solutions. Many laboratory and field studies, community-based initiatives, and pilot projects have been defined as experiments in this field. Yet, in sustainability science, it is still unclear what distinguishes scientific experiments from conventional projects or initiatives as well as how different scientific experiments compare to one another. In this article, we define an experiment as a scientific practice that relies primarily on an intervention and that allows for the production of empirical evidence. We show that, in sustainability science, researchers can have different types of control over the intervention (from full to no control) and that evidence can be about different subjects (sustainability problems or sustainability solutions). Relying on this differentiation, we introduce a typology that organizes experiments in sustainability science according to type of control over interventions and subjects of experimentation. The typology provides a synthetic, comprehensive, and comparative overview of the variety of experimental approaches in sustainability science. By providing a definition and a typology for scientific experimentation in this field, the article contributes to the further development of evidence-based approaches in sustainability science.

AB - Experiments are crucial for sustainability science because they allow researchers to produce evidence about the causes of sustainability problems and about the effectiveness of solutions. Many laboratory and field studies, community-based initiatives, and pilot projects have been defined as experiments in this field. Yet, in sustainability science, it is still unclear what distinguishes scientific experiments from conventional projects or initiatives as well as how different scientific experiments compare to one another. In this article, we define an experiment as a scientific practice that relies primarily on an intervention and that allows for the production of empirical evidence. We show that, in sustainability science, researchers can have different types of control over the intervention (from full to no control) and that evidence can be about different subjects (sustainability problems or sustainability solutions). Relying on this differentiation, we introduce a typology that organizes experiments in sustainability science according to type of control over interventions and subjects of experimentation. The typology provides a synthetic, comprehensive, and comparative overview of the variety of experimental approaches in sustainability science. By providing a definition and a typology for scientific experimentation in this field, the article contributes to the further development of evidence-based approaches in sustainability science.

KW - Causal and actionable knowledge

KW - Sustainability problems

KW - Sustainability solutions

KW - Sustainability transformations;

KW - Sustainability transitions

KW - Transdisciplinarity

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021331170&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.164

DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.164

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85021331170

VL - 169

SP - 39

EP - 47

JO - Journal of Cleaner Production

JF - Journal of Cleaner Production

SN - 0959-6526

ER -