Peer effects on authoritarianism – Evidence from the Norwegian Armed Forces

Last registered on November 17, 2022
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Peer effects on authoritarianism – Evidence from the Norwegian Armed Forces
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010394
Initial registration date
November 11, 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
November 17, 2022, 3:27 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Norway
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Andreas Kotsadam
Affiliation
University of Oslo
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sirianne Dahlum
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Torbjørn Hansson
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Åshild Johnsen
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Alexander Wuttke
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-09-10
End date
2024-02-01
Keywords
Behavior, Electoral, Lab
Additional Keywords
Authoritarianism; Peer effects; Attitudes
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study how peer effects shape authoritarianism using a field experiment in the Norwegian Armed Forces. In particular, we ask: Does random assignment to people with different levels of authoritarian orientations make soldiers more or less authoritarian? In addition, we hope to answer the following questions: How does authoritarianism change during military service? Does information about peers' authoritarian preference change individual beliefs and orientations?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dahlum, Sirianne et al. 2022. "Peer effects on authoritarianism – Evidence from the Norwegian Armed Forces." AEA RCT Registry. November 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10394-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We have two main interventions: We randomly assign recruits to rooms during bootcamp to test peer effects on authoritarian orientation. We further conduct an information experiment to test how information about the attitudes of other recruits' affect attitudes and beliefs.
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-10
Intervention End Date
2022-11-13

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our primary outcome is Authoritarian orientation, which we measure with the following survey question: "For each of the following statements below, please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with each. Do you strongly agree (1), agree (2), neither agree or disagree (3) disagree (4), strongly disagree (5)?" “It is important to have a strong leader who gets things done, even if this sometimes means bypassing parliament and elections.” We reverse code the variable.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We measure beliefs and other attitudes that are linked to authoritarianism. See the plan for details.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The peer effect intervention consists of us randomly asigning individuals to rooms where they will live for eight weeks with other recruits.

The information intervention consists of randomly providing information about the baseline attitudes.

See the plan for details.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual level randomization for the information experiment but for the peer effects the treatment is clustered at the room level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
80 rooms
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
40 control rooms and 40 treatment rooms
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Our minimum detectable effect for the information treatment with 80 percent power and a significance level of 5 percent, accounting for multiple hypothesis testing and covariate controls is 0.2 standard deviations of the main oucome. For the peer effect analysis, accounting for clustering, the minimum detectable effect is 0.25 standard deviations of the main outcome.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Frisch Centre
IRB Approval Date
2020-01-15
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan for “Peer effects on authoritarianism – Evidence from the Norwegian Armed Forces”

MD5: 2882f6213820e13eb03216f18f93825d

SHA1: eacec0c69624fd7c01d5e98b05263db7c7f05b48

Uploaded At: November 11, 2022