Networking registration: Reaching returning citizens through their loved ones

Last registered on September 13, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Networking registration: Reaching returning citizens through their loved ones
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010021
Initial registration date
September 02, 2022

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
September 08, 2022, 11:03 AM EDT

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

Last updated
September 13, 2022, 2:02 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Rutgers University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
MIT
PI Affiliation
Yale
PI Affiliation
Code for America
PI Affiliation
Texas A&M

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-09-15
End date
2023-03-31
Secondary IDs
osf.io/x6ahe
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Millions of people in the US are eligible to vote despite past felony convictions, but their voter participation rates are extraordinarily low. In this experiment we propose to identify individuals who have felony convictions but who are nevertheless eligible to vote through administrative records of criminal legal involvement together with voter registration records. We will then work with a commercial data vendor to obtain address information for these individuals. We will further use that address information together with voter registration files to find other individuals living in the same household as the focal individual who is justice impacted. We will therefore have a set of individuals who are justice impacted, eligible to vote and unregistered; and a set of individuals who are not justice impacted, who live at the same address as the justice impacted person, and who are registered to vote. We will then randomize individuals into one of three groups: justice impacted individuals who will personally receive a mailer prompting them to register; justice impacted people who will not receive a mailer, but whose house mate will receive a mailer encouraging them to help their justice impacted loved one register; and a control group. In this way, we will evaluate the effectiveness of enlisting network members in the process of registering and turning out justice impacted people.

This project was previously registered as an extension of the project registered under this AEA number: AEARCTR-0004574 and under this OSF project: osf.io/xq8eh; we have determined that the network approach is deserving of its own project registration. Further details for the new project can be found here: osf.io/x6ahe
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Doleac, Jennifer et al. 2022. "Networking registration: Reaching returning citizens through their loved ones." AEA RCT Registry. September 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10021-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This trial will have three arms: 1) a control, 2) individuals in one's network will receive a letter with eligibility information, a form and stamped envelop that encourages them to reach out and register their loved one with a felony conviction, and 3) the individual themselves will receive a letter encouraging them to register.
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-15
Intervention End Date
2022-11-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
For the network trial we will collect the following outcomes: voter registration among both the individual with a felony conviction and the individual's network member who also received a mailer, and voting in the subsequent 2022 midterm election.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will use a between-subjects design with three arms, including a control. The study will be fielded in Texas. We will randomize at the individual level with equal probability across the three treatment groups, blocking on state, using the "randomize" function from the "experiment" library in R. The comparison (no-record) group is randomized (individually) with equal probability into treatment and control.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomize at the individual level, using the "randomize" function from the "experiment" library in R.
Randomization Unit
People will be randomized with equal probability into treatment/control conditions, blocking on county and race of individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We have a total of 140,234 individuals split across two treated groups and an untreated control group.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We have a total of 140,234 individuals split across two treated groups and an untreated control group.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We have a total of 140,234 individuals split across two treated groups and an untreated control group, with N = 46,745 per arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We have a total of 140,234 individuals split across two treated groups and an untreated control group. With N = 46,745 per arm, we’re powered to distinguish a difference between arms of about 0.425 pp (sample sizes in this figure are per arm).
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MIT IRB
IRB Approval Date
2022-04-15
IRB Approval Number
1907914986A009

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials