Perceptions of Names

Last registered on April 18, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Perceptions of Names
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011279
Initial registration date
April 17, 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 18, 2023, 5:18 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Mannheim

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
U. Bochum

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-04-17
End date
2023-07-01
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We survey the perceptions of names (first names and surnames) to test the channels potentially explaining the results of a previous study. Specifically, we are interested if two specific names (one male, one female) that we used in the previous study are perceived differently than other common names.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Doerrenberg, Philipp and Christoph Feldhaus. 2023. "Perceptions of Names." AEA RCT Registry. April 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11279-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
We survey the perceptions of names (first names and surnames) to test the channels potentially explaining the results of a previous study. Specifically, we are interested if two specific names (one male, one female, both from Switzerland) that we used in the previous study are perceived differently than other common names.

We compiled a list of the 10 most common first and last names in Switzerland and compare combinations of these first and last names to the actual names in our previous study. Survey participants provide their perception of a total of six names, 3 male and 3 gender, in random order. These six names always include the two actual names of the previous study and 4 additional names (2 female, 2 male) which are random combinations of the 10 most common Swiss first and last names.

For each of the six names, survey participants are asked the following questions: i) whether they can imagine naming their (potential) child like the respective displayed first name, ii) perceptions of the displayed full name (first and last) with respect to six different character traits/attributes (trustworthy, competent, selfish, attractive, likable, reliable), and iii) whether they can imagine working together with someone having the respective displayed full name. Each survey question is to be answered on a seven-point scale.

We aim to study if the actual names of our previous study are perceived and rated differently than the other names with the same gender. Our null hypothesis is that the actual names are not differently perceived/rated than the other names. To test this, we use the answers to the survey questions as outcome variables and investigate for each outcome variable if the respective actual name is different than the other names. We do this separately by gender to abstract from gender differences. That is, we compare our actual male name to other male names, and our actual female name to other female names. Technically, we run OLS regressions of the respective outcome variable on a dummy indicating the actual name (either male or female actual name). We will use the original seven-point scale of the outcome variable.

Our survey is conducted through the commercial survey provider Norstat. We collect observations from 500 survey participants. The sample shall be comparable to the German population (retrieved from Census) with respect to the share of male/female and the share in different age groups. The original study included active academic post-docs and professors and we aim to be comparable in terms of age to this group, and therefore only include survey participants between 26 and 65.
Intervention Start Date
2023-04-19
Intervention End Date
2023-04-26

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Answers to the survey questions (see description of intervention)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See description of intervention.
Experimental Design Details
See description of intervention.
Randomization Method
Randomization done by survey software
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
500
Sample size: planned number of observations
500
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 (within design)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

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