Short-Term Economic Effects of Psychological Affirmation and Goal-Setting Interventions

Last registered on September 29, 2016
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Short-Term Economic Effects of Psychological Affirmation and Goal-Setting Interventions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000991
Initial registration date
January 14, 2016

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
January 14, 2016, 6:17 PM EST

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

Last updated
September 29, 2016, 1:29 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region
Western

Primary Investigator

Name
Kate Orkin
Affiliation
University of Oxford
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Richard Sedlmayr
PI Affiliation
Oxford University
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PI Name
Rob Garlick
PI Affiliation
Duke University
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PI Name
Stefan Dercon
PI Affiliation
University of Oxford
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PI Name
Kate Orkin
PI Affiliation
University of Oxford
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PI Name
Johannes Haushofer
PI Affiliation
Princeton University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2015-07-01
End date
2016-06-01
Keywords
Welfare
Additional Keywords
aspirations, self-affirmation
JEL code(s)
D03, I31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This document describes analyses we plan to conduct on the data from a randomized controlled trial in southwestern Kenya conducted in 2015–2016. In this trial, we test if either or both of two social psychological interventions can affect psychological and economic outcomes over a two-month period and if the effects of interventions differ if they are delivered individually or in randomly assigned groups.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dercon, Stefan et al. 2016. "Short-Term Economic Effects of Psychological Affirmation and Goal-Setting Interventions." AEA RCT Registry. September 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.991-6.0
Former Citation
Dercon, Stefan et al. 2016. "Short-Term Economic Effects of Psychological Affirmation and Goal-Setting Interventions." AEA RCT Registry. September 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/991/history/10938
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
(1) A pure control group is not being surveyed until the endline

Three interventions are being delivered:
(2) A self-affirmation intervention involving two videos plus an exercise
(3) An aspirational intervention involving two videos plus an exercise
(4) A placebo intervention involving two videos plus an exercise that includes information from the other videos, but excludes what are presumed to be the active (self-affirmation or aspiration) ingredients

See pre-analysis plan for details

Arms 2,3, and 4 are cross-cut with individual (A) versus group (B) treatment delivery



Intervention Start Date
2015-11-09
Intervention End Date
2016-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We define a set of eight primary measures of interest, including two directly measured outcomes and six indices constructed from multiple outcomes. The indices are:
- self-concept (index)
- aspirations, hope and optimism (index)
- stress and depression (index)
- education (index)
- labor supply (focal outcome)
- consumption-related expenditure (focal outcome)
- income from production (index)
- investment-oriented behavior index

These are constructed and analysed as detailed in the attached pre-analysis plan.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached pre-analysis plan

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
1.Pure control
2A.Self-affirmations, individual
2B.Self-affirmations, group
3A.Aspirations, individual
3B.Aspirations, group
4A.Placebo, individual
4B.Placebo, group

See pre-analysis plan for details
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer, stratified random assignment, see pre-analysis plan for details
Randomization Unit
Village level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
144 (treatment arms plus placebo) plus 16 (pure control)
Sample size: planned number of observations
3385 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1.Pure control: 16 villages x 35 subjects = 560. no baseline. successfully endlined: 529.
2A.Self-affirmations, individual: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 574. successfully endlined: 530.
2B.Self-affirmations, group: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 630. successfully endlined: 548.
3A.Aspirations, individual: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 610. successfully endlined: 560.
3B.Aspirations, group: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 633. successfully endlined: 592.
4A.Placebo, individual: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 570
4B.Placebo, group: offered: 24 villages x 30 subjects = 720. successfully baselined: 622
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Princeton University Institutional Review Board For Human Subjects, Office of Research Integrity and Assurance
IRB Approval Date
2016-06-03
IRB Approval Number
0000006800
IRB Name
Maseno University Ethics Review Committee
IRB Approval Date
2015-09-25
IRB Approval Number
MSU/DPRI/MUERC/00196/15
IRB Name
Social Science & Humanities Inter-Divisional Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2015-05-26
IRB Approval Number
SSD/CUREC1A/BSG C1A_16-002
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 31, 2016, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
March 31, 2016, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials