Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago

Last registered on April 13, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011206
Initial registration date
April 07, 2023

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
April 13, 2023, 3:52 PM EDT

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

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Chicago

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-04-10
End date
2023-05-15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This experiment plans to explore how behavioral tools affect parents' redemption rate of an online gift card. From 2021 to 2022, the Early Investment Project (EIP) by us, the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab at the University of Chicago, surveyed around 2000 parents with kindergarteners in the Chicago Public School system. For parents who completed the survey, we offered them a $20 gift card through an online gift card platform. We also provided $89 to a subset of parents who won the raffle from one survey question. By March 2023, we found out that, among 1932 parents in the EIP survey sample, 887 parents had yet to redeem the gift cards. To increase the gift card redemption rate with two behavioral approaches, we plan to separate these parents into two treatment groups and one control group. All groups will receive brief information through text messages and emails about the gift card with a link. Besides, one treatment group will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for their children with the gift card. The other treatment group will receive a short sentence that phrases the gift card's value to an equivalent hourly wage. We will send these text messages and emails once a week for four consecutive weeks. We are interested in comparing the redemption rate among groups and its heterogeneity by baseline parental characteristics.



External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kalil, Ariel, Haoxuan Liu and Susan Mayer. 2023. "Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago." AEA RCT Registry. April 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11206-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Parents who have yet to redeem the gift cards will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or to a control group. All groups will receive brief information through text messages and emails about the gift card with a link. Besides, one treatment group will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for their children with the gift card. The other treatment group will receive a short sentence that phrases the gift card's value to an equivalent hourly wage. We will send these text messages and emails once a week for four consecutive weeks.

Intervention Start Date
2023-04-10
Intervention End Date
2023-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Redemption rate of the gift cards
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample size is 887 parents, among whom 764 parents have a balance of $20, 53 parents have a balance of $89, and 70 parents have a balance of $109. For the 764 parents with the $20 balance, we randomly assign them to two treatment groups and one control group evenly. All groups will receive brief information through text messages and emails about the gift card with a link. Besides, one treatment group (parental identity group) will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for their children with the gift card. The other treatment group (hourly wage group) will receive a short sentence that phrases the gift card's value to an equivalent hourly wage. For the 53 parents with the $89 balance and the 70 parents with the $109 balance, they will be randomly assigned to either the control group or the hourly wage group evenly. For all the groups, We will send text messages and emails once a week for four consecutive weeks.






Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We conduct the randomization procedure using a statistical software program.
Randomization Unit
Our unit of randomization is a parent.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We don't design clusters, so the planned number of clusters is 887 parents.
Sample size: planned number of observations
887 parents
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
For the 764 parents with a $20 balance, 255 parents are assigned to the parental identity group, 255 are assigned to the hourly wage group, and 254 are assigned to the control group.

For the 53 parents with an $89 balance, 27 are assigned to the hourly wage group, and 26 are assigned to the control group.

For the 70 parents with a $ 109 balance, 35 are assigned to the hourly wage group, and 35 are assigned to the control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
For the 764 parents with a $20 balance randomized in three groups, the MDES is .25 SD with a significance level of .05 and 80% of the power. For the 53 parents with an $89 balance randomized in three groups, the MDES is .79 SD with a significance level of .05 and 80% of the power. For the 70 parents with a $109 balance randomized in three groups, the MDES is .68 SD with a significance level of .05 and 80% of the power. If we pool three groups with different balances together and compare the redemption rate between the hourly wage group and the control group, we have 632 parents. The MDES is .22 SD with a significance level of .05 and 80% of the power.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The University of Chicago Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-02-14
IRB Approval Number
IRB19-1642
Analysis Plan

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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