Salient Rewards, Payoff Protocols and Biased Data

ABSTRACT Paying salient rewards to subjects is expensive. Is it worth it? We describe previous data from otherwise identical treatments with hypothetical or salient payoffs that indicate opposite conclusions about the central research question in a paper. If we are going to pay salient rewards, how should we? The answer depends on the theoretical model underlying hypotheses being tested with the data; hence the choice of payoff protocol is an essential feature of experimental design. In recent years there has been renewed interest in theoretical and experimental research on properties of payoff protocols. We present an extension and critical discussion of the literature intended to promote uptake.