Charitable Giving Chatbot on Facebook

Last registered on December 06, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Charitable Giving Chatbot on Facebook
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012561
Initial registration date
November 26, 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
December 06, 2023, 7:57 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Kristine Koutout
Affiliation
Stanford University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Susan Athey
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
PI Name
Patricia Andrews-Fearon
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
PI Name
Szymon Sacher
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
PI Name
Dean Karlan
PI Affiliation
Northwestern University
PI Name
Michael Luca
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
PI Name
Nils Wernerfelt
PI Affiliation
Northwestern University
PI Name
Utsav Manjeer
PI Affiliation
Meta

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-11-27
End date
2024-04-30
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
charitable giving; chatbot; social media
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We are conducting a study to learn about the relative effectiveness of different types of emotional donation appeals on donation behavior and re-engagement. We will invite social media users to find their "charity soulmate" in a chatbot quiz on Facebook Messenger that matches them to a highly-rated (by Charity Navigator) charity. Participants will then be randomized into no intervention as a baseline, or one of the two treatment interventions: obligation or opportunity. All participants will choose whether they want to donate and/or re-engage with the chatbot. For those who want to re-engage, we will share additional content every two weeks for twelve weeks following the matching chatbot.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Andrews-Fearon, Patricia et al. 2023. "Charitable Giving Chatbot on Facebook." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12561-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Obligation
Opportunity
Baseline
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-27
Intervention End Date
2024-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Binary intention to donate (immediate)
Binary pixel-observed donation (immediate and subsequent)
Pixel-observed donation amount (immediate and subsequent)
Binary willingness to re-engage (immediate and each of 6 follow-ups)
Length of engagement (continuous)
Cause importance (5-point Likert)
Charity engagement index
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See details in attachment.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a server.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
20,000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4,000 in Baseline
8,000 in each Treatment arm (Obligation & Opportunity)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Stanford University
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-25
IRB Approval Number
71029
Analysis Plan

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