Follow-up (III) to Historical Narratives and Political Attitudes

Last registered on November 01, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Follow-up (III) to Historical Narratives and Political Attitudes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012299
Initial registration date
October 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
November 01, 2023, 2:32 PM EDT

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

Last updated
November 01, 2023, 4:04 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Dartmouth College

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Dartmouth College

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-10-20
End date
2024-08-14
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
We describe the analysis plan for an online intervention designed to learn the historical views among different demographic groups in the US and to determine whether enquiring about these views has an effect on political attitudes and polarization. The study is a follow-up that builds on a previous round of data collection (AEARCTR-0009108, AEARCTR-0011305), implementing the same methodology and asking similar questions from a different set of participants. We will include new questions to elicit motivated reasoning and aim to recontact participants to examine the degree to which the baseline patterns persist weeks after the intervention.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ramos-Toro, Diego and Elsa Voytas. 2023. "Follow-up (III) to Historical Narratives and Political Attitudes." AEA RCT Registry. November 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12299-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention will consist of randomizing who is asked to answer the open-ended questions related to historical views before answering other questions, and who is instead asked to answers the survey questions without answering the questions regarding their historical views.
Intervention (Hidden)
Participants in the treatment condition will be asked to share their views on the causes of the Civil War, the degree to which the goals of the Civil Rights Movement have been accomplished, and the extent to which there is (or isn’t) an ongoing legacy from slavery that adversely affects African Americans. The treatment group will answer these questions before answering other survey questions, while the control group will only answer the other survey questions (i.e., they will not answer the open-ended questions about race in historical perspective). We will focus on white participants, which are those for whom we encounter substantial polarization in institutional support deriving from thinking and historical issues related to race. To that end, we will survey 3000 white respondents in this round, recruiting 1200 respondents who report being liberal, 1200 who report being conservative, and 600 who report being moderate or middle of the road.
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-02
Intervention End Date
2023-12-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Index of Institutional Support, support for democracy as a system of government, support for capitalism as an economic system, support for gradual reform vs. substantial reform to ensure equal rights for all Americans.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Belief in factual accuracy of historical claims, perceived relevance of historical facts, self-reported emotional state, belief in the likelihood of agreement with different demographics
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Half of our participants will provide the main outcomes without having to share their views on historical issues related to race in the US, while the other half will provide such outcomes after sharing those views. The randomization will be stratified by political ideology, ensuring that 50% of white conservative, 50% of white liberals, and 50% of white moderates in the treatment group.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done with the assistance of Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
3000
Sample size: planned number of observations
3000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1500 assigned to treatment and 1500 assigned to control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at Dartmouth
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-18
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00032438
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