The Use of Vignette Experiments in Business Strategy Research

Vignette Experiments

Vignettes are the foundation for a family of closely related, yet slightly differing methods – some strongly experimental and providing a sound basis for inferring causality, others only to a lesser degree, and yet others not allowing causal inferences at all. The members of this family are referred to under various names in literature but can broadly be classified into (1) full factorial vignette experiments which are also referred to as full factorial survey (Rossi & Anderson, 1982; Taylor, 2006), or orthogonal policy-capturing studies, (2a) (reduced) fractional vignette experiments (aka: fractional factorial surveys) using an experimental plan as selection basis, (2b) (reduced) random selection factorial vignette experiments, (3) non-orthogonal policy-capturing or non-orthogonal social judgment studies, and (4) single-scenario studies.