Religion and social behavior

Last registered on September 19, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Religion and social behavior
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010075
Initial registration date
September 16, 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 19, 2022, 4:20 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region
Busia

Primary Investigator

Name
Julie Chytilova
Affiliation
Charles University and CERGE-EI
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Michal Bauer
PI Affiliation
CERGE-EI and Charles University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-09-21
End date
2022-12-10
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
economics of religion, social preferences
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
It is often suggested that religion shapes social preferences. It may contribute to both pro-social behavior among church members, but also to a greater animosity and conflicts across religious boundaries. In this project, we will study what type of social preferences religious leaders try to instill among church members. Specifically, whether they aim to instill not only in-group altruism but also hostility to members of other churches or non-religious people. We will experimentally elicit measures of pro-social and anti-social preferences towards members of various churches among a sample of religious leaders and congregants of their churches.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bauer, Michal and Julie Chytilova. 2022. "Religion and social behavior ." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10075-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Not available at this moment.
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-21
Intervention End Date
2022-12-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Choices in a set of allocation tasks in which the participants can decide to increase or decrease the payoff of another person. They will make choices affecting payoff of several recipients with different religious affiliation (Catholic, Anglican, Assemblies of God, small protestant church like God Harvest Church or Miracle Church, Muslim, not religious, from the same church as the participant) and signal of ethnicity (from participant’s home ancestral area vs. different area), and one recipient coming anywhere from Kenya.

The sample of religious leaders will in addition make choices about how they would like congregants of their church to decide in these tasks. Further, we will measure their willingness to pay to make their choices for congregants payoff-relevant and we will elicit their beliefs about congregants’ choices in these tasks.

The sample of congregants will in addition make a choice in a simple dictator game in which they can decide how much money from an endowment they want to donate to their church.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Not available at this moment.
Experimental Design Details
We will elicit choices in a set of allocation tasks among 1,000 subjects in Western Kenya. The aim is to sample 200 religious leaders and 800 congregants from their churches. To measure pro-social and anti-social behavior, the participants will make choices in a set of allocation tasks, in which they can decide either to decrease or to increase payment to another person (recipient). If they decide not to make any change, the payment will be KSH 100, or they can decide to change the payment to any multiple of KSH 20 between KSH 0 and KSH 200. One choice will be randomly selected to be payoff-relevant. The sample of religious leaders will in addition answer a set of questions aiming to measure beliefs about the choices of congregants of their church and about how they would like congregants of their church to decide.

There will be two types of experimental treatments. First, among the sample of congregants, one randomly selected group will be, before making the decision about the allocation to a person coming anywhere from Kenya, informed about a choice of a religious leader (KSH 200). The remaining part of the sample will not receive such information. Second, among the sample of religious leaders, before they start to make the set of allocation decisions, a randomly selected part of the sample will answer a set of questions related to competition between various churches. The remaining part of the sample will answer these questions later in the survey.
Randomization Method
Both types of treatments will be randomized at the individual level, by SurveyCTO.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The expected total number of participants is 1,000.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,000. The sample will consist of four groups of participants (target number of observations for each of these groups is in parentheses): congregants of Catholic and Anglican churches (N=200), congregants of other Christian (mostly Pentecostal) churches (N=600), religious leaders of Catholic and Anglican churches (N=50), and religious leaders of other Christian churches (N=150).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The expected total number of participants is 1,000. The two treatments will be implemented orthogonally to each other. For each, approximately one half of the sample will receive the treatment and the other half not.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University
IRB Approval Date
2022-05-11
IRB Approval Number
42
IRB Name
Maseno University Scientific and Ethics Review Committee
IRB Approval Date
2022-08-29
IRB Approval Number
MSU/DRPI/MUSERC/01090/22
Analysis Plan

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