Do you look away now, even if you face the consequences on others, later?

Last registered on February 02, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Do you look away now, even if you face the consequences on others, later?
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011767
Initial registration date
July 19, 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
July 20, 2023, 5:54 PM EDT

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

Last updated
February 02, 2024, 9:35 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Wendelin Schnedler
Affiliation
Paderborn University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Laurenz Lennardt
PI Affiliation
Paderborn University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-07-26
End date
2023-08-08
Keywords
Behavior, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
D83, C91
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
People tend to wilfully ignore the consequences of their behavior on others. We examine whether this changes if they know that they will learn about these consequences after their decision? We investigate this question with an online experiment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lennardt, Laurenz and Wendelin Schnedler. 2024. "Do you look away now, even if you face the consequences on others, later?." AEA RCT Registry. February 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11767-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-07-26
Intervention End Date
2023-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We expect the treatment group to actively inform themselves more often, compared to the baseline. This will be measured by the number of participants clicking the 'Reveal Passive Player's Payoff" button.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We expect subjects in the treatment group to "help" the passive players more often
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We expect subjects in the treatment group to click the button, which benefits the passive players more often. They might have to forego 20p to do that.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Subjects will be randomly assigned to pairs. One subject will be the active player and the other subject will be the passive player. The active player can choose between High and Low, resulting in payoffs of 120p or 100p. By choosing one of these payoffs, the active player also determines the payoff for passive player. There are two situations, which are equally likely to occur. In Situation 1 choosing High leads to 20p for the passive player and choosing Low to 100p. In Situation 2, the payoffs for the passive player are flipped. The information in which situation the players are in, is hidden. However, the active player can find out by clicking on the "Reveal Passive Player's Payoff" button. In other words, the treatment group has to decide if they want to get the information before or after choosing High or Low. We will use the strategy method in this experiment in order to get the information from all subjects in the active role. Only the decision of one active player in each pair is implemented.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The program will randomly assign subjects to treatments.
Randomization Unit
individual randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
340 (each subject is her own cluster)
Sample size: planned number of observations
340 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
170 subjects in control group
170 subjects in treatment group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
In an earlier experiment with a similar structure, but different treatment, it was observed, that 46% of the subjects in the baseline group inform themselves. Therefore, our minimum detectable effect size would be 62% (clicking the Reveal Passive Player's Payoff button) in the treatment group with a power of 0,9 and 340 subjects.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-19
IRB Approval Number
93sbxbUr
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
August 08, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
August 08, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
282 subjects
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
282 subjects
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
136 No Avoidance (baseline) 146 Avoidance (treatment)
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials