In this appendix we provide many of the nuts and bolts details of different experiments that we have conducted using our new dynamic process-tracing methodology and the presidential campaign simulation created to go with it. We begin with a description of the subjects who participated in the experiments and the methods by which they were recruited. We then discuss the general procedures that were followed in actually running the experiments. We conclude with a little more detail on the eight mock candidates who “ran” in our mock campaigns.

SUBJECTS

As mentioned briefly in Chapter 3, our requirements for participation in our experiments were only two: (1) Subjects had to be eligible to register and vote in U.S. elections (i.e., they had to be U.S. citizens at least 18 years of age), and (2) subjects could not be currently enrolled in a college or university. In practice, the studies also required subjects to be literate, as much of the experimental material was presented in written form. Our subject recruitment procedure differed between the first three experiments, when we had funding to pay subjects, and the last, when we did not. For the first three experiments, we could pay each subject $20 for participating – which, as will be detailed later, lasted about two hours – and some subjects were obtained by advertisements in local newspapers or community bulletin boards.