A real-world murder during data collection created a natural quasi-experiment on death-thought effects.

Evidence

In Study 1, participants viewed news content about Islamic terrorist attacks or about the Olympic Games (control). Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic extremist in the middle of data collection. Thus, half of the participants in Study 1 were also exposed to Van Gogh’s murder. We test the classical TMT model in which death related thoughts mediate the relationship between terrorism news and prejudice, and compare it to a model in which death related thoughts moderate the relationship between terrorism news and prejudice. — Enny Das, Brad J. Bushman, Marieke D. Bezemer, Peter Kerkhof, Ivar E. Vermeulen, How Terrorism News Reports Increase…, 146

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: how researchers can exploit real events that land mid-study — the murder of Theo van Gogh splitting an experimental sample by chance.
• XREF: Connects to terror management theory (TMT) literature and quasi-experimental design discussions.