IL METODO SPERIMENTALE : UN'OPPORTUNITA' PER LO SVILUPPO INTERDISCIPLINARE DEGLI STUDI POLITICI

During the last fifteen years, the applications of experimental method in political science has grown so much that today many political scientists consider it a tool of great utility for their analyses. Given its own characteristics, the experimental design seems to be a methodology at the cut egde for the study of political behaviour, both for interdisciplinary approach, which make easier the dialogue with other social and human sciences, such as cognitive psychology, economics, and sociology, and for its attitude to test research hypothesis according with the theoretical model of causal explanation. After a short introduction on the nature of experimental methods and the validity of the laboratory proof, some of the most interesting experimental results in political science are discussed, paying particular attention to electoral behaviour, voting, decision making, coordination and cooperation mechanisms in international relations. The wide range of applications, including those in the field of genetic and neuroscience, testifies the utility and saliency of the experimental method in answering to new research questions.