La fabrication du chiffre randomisé. Les expérimentations aléatoires en pratique

This article examines the way in which the method of randomized experiments, popularized by the French economist Esther Duflo, is practiced in the field. It examines what happens in the transition from theory to practice, with particular emphasis on the place and role of the field. The relative distancing of researchers from the field, combined with the marginalization of qualitative methods, has important heuristic effects that need to be highlighted. The article shows that in practice, we do not always know precisely what we are really measuring the impact of. The tinkering with the research protocol as it is applied is not taken into account.