This article explores the key attributes of applying experimental methods to the study of bureaucracy. It engages in experimental research on incentives, structure, and other fundamental questions about bureaucracy. Next, it addresses two of the most prominent criticisms of experimental research on American bureaucracies: they lack external validity, and they cannot create laboratory environments that replicate organizational settings. While both pose knotty problems for any experimental research, each has special wrinkles in the case of experimental research on bureaucracy at both the individual and organizational levels. Is also important to note that field experiments suffer from a type of effect that is addressed most concretely in the case of laboratory experiments: the experimenter effect. The experimental approach applied to surveys may be less useful in the case of surveying real bureaucrats. The article finally covers several promising future possibilities for experimental research on American bureaucracy.