Experiments as Performance Art

Some large‑scale social experiments function less like raw evidence‑gathering and more like staged interventions whose meaning depends on context, audiences, and institutional approvals. Treating experiments as performative shifts attention from isolated causal estimates to how trials are visible, ethical, and narrativized — which shapes whether results can be generalized or repurposed. — Reframing experiments as performative forces a rethink of research ethics, IRB power, platform policies, and how governments adopt evidence from trials.