Have your pie and complete it too: encouraging survey participation to evaluate social service program outcomes

Last registered on May 03, 2017

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Have your pie and complete it too: encouraging survey participation to evaluate social service program outcomes

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002110

Initial registration date

May 02, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

May 03, 2017, 9:06 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Australia

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Michael Hiscox

Affiliation

Harvard University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2017-03-13

End date

2017-06-30

Keywords

Governance

Additional Keywords

Government, survey, social services

JEL code(s)

D12 (Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis); M15 (IT Management)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Data Exchange (DEX) is the Department of Social Services (DSS) in Australia’s new approach to collecting and storing programme performance data. It will shift the focus of performance measurement from outputs to more meaningful information about service delivery outcomes. A DEX survey is offered to clients both at the beginning and end of their service.

The aim of the study is to examine whether using behavioural insights techniques can improve the data collection rate for DEX, which in turn will assist DSS with evaluating service delivery outcomes.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Hiscox, Michael. 2017. "Have your pie and complete it too: encouraging survey participation to evaluate social service program outcomes ." AEA RCT Registry. May 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2110-1.0

Former Citation

Hiscox, Michael. 2017. "Have your pie and complete it too: encouraging survey participation to evaluate social service program outcomes ." AEA RCT Registry. May 03. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2110/history/17220

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

BETA will assist the Department of Social Services in designing the DEX survey as to: (1) increase initial survey completion rate, using pseudo-set framing, and (2) increase second survey participation rate, using a pre-commitment device in the first survey.

Intervention Start Date

2017-03-13

Intervention End Date

2017-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Proportion of subjects who complete “Survey 1”
Average percentage of "Survey 1" questions completed by subjects
Proportion of subjects who commence “Survey 2”

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This is an individually randomised controlled trial with 3 arms. Participants will be enrolled in the trial during a 3-month period and will be randomised into one of 3 conditions when the begin their first client survey: pseudo-set framing; landing page commitment; or control condition (survey as usual).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Computer algorithm

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Sample size: planned number of observations

Approximately 423 clients

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Approximately 141 clients per treatment arm

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Previous trials of pseudo sets have reported large increases in completion rates, therefore this study will be powered to detect a 10 percentage point increase in survey completion. A total sample of 423 (three groups, 141 units per group) will provide 80% power at a 5% significance level to detect a change in survey completion from 85% to 95% (this reflects a Cohen’s h of 0.35, a small to medium effect size). If the sample size is less than anticipated, participants assigned to condition 2 may be pooled with the control group.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB