The Cinderella Game

Last registered on May 31, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Cinderella Game
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012911
Initial registration date
January 30, 2024

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
January 31, 2024, 1:33 PM EST

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

Last updated
May 31, 2024, 8:51 AM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg
PI Affiliation
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg
PI Affiliation
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-02-12
End date
2026-02-13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Exclusion can damage group member's health and work performance. The central objective of the study is to understand the patterns of exclusion and whether the information on the likelihood of being excluded helps or harms the victims. In our laboratory study, we invite a set of subjects about whom we have information in multiple dimensions, including age, gender, body type, face shape, eye and hair color, willingness to trust and reciprocate, degree of altruism, etc. Subjects are assigned to groups of six. Using the distributions of the attributes, we create fictional person cards and ask the subjects to rank them according to the expected likelihood that they will be excluded by their group of six. Subjects receive a positive payoff for each person card that they rank on the same position as ranked by the group in total. The subject whose attributes are closest to the person card that is ranked with the highest likelihood to be excluded by the group is selected as the group's victim and receives a reduced payoff. In the baseline treatment, the subjects provide an initial ranking, before having a group discussion via computer chat. The information on the initial ranking is not provided by the experimenter. After the discussion, the final rankings are submitted and the game ends with payoffs and no repetition. In the revealed treatment, the initial ranking decision phase is followed by an information phase, in which the potential victim - given the initial rankings - is revealed by the experimenter. The remaining part of the game is the same as in the baseline treatment.
Due to technical issues, the study is run online and not in the laboratory, but with the same set of subjects randomized across treatments. Due to the online setup, we no longer need the six-subject groups and cannot provide the group discussion. Instead, rankings and re-rankings are performed by the subjects in the baseline treatment without any interaction with others. The baseline treatment is subdivided into one subgroup with a neutral request to reevaluate their ranking and one subgroup with an ethically framed request. In the treatment group, after the initial ranking, we report a number of person cards that were either among the top five most likely victims ("mimic treatment") or explicitly not among the top five most likely victims ("attention treatment") of a previous session. Subjects then receive a neutral request to reevaluate their ranking. In contrast to the original plan (see above), we do not actually choose victims who have a payoff loss. The advantage of the new online setup is that we can evaluate each individual's decisions as an independent observation. The downside of the new online setup is that some of the subjects drop out before completing the experiment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Greif, Jannik T. et al. 2024. "The Cinderella Game ." AEA RCT Registry. May 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12911-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-18
Intervention End Date
2024-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
likelihood to be excluded
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
likelihood to be excluded is elicited directly

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In our laboratory study, we invite a set of subjects about whom we have information in multiple dimensions, including age, gender, body type, face shape, eye and hair color, willingness to trust and reciprocate, degree of altruism, etc. Subjects are assigned to groups of six. Using the distributions of the attributes, we create fictional person cards and ask the subjects to rank them according to the expected likelihood that they will be excluded by their group of six. Subjects receive a positive payoff for each person card that they rank on the same position as ranked by the group in total. The subject whose attributes are closest to the person card that is ranked with the highest likelihood to be excluded by the group is selected as the group's victim and receives a reduced payoff. In the baseline treatment, the subjects provide an initial ranking, before having a group discussion via computer chat. The information on the initial ranking is not provided by the experimenter. After the discussion, the final rankings are submitted and the game ends with payoffs and no repetition. In the revealed treatment, the initial ranking decision phase is followed by an information phase, in which the potential victim - given the initial rankings - is revealed by the experimenter. The remaining part of the game is the same as in the baseline treatment.
Due to technical issues, the study is run online and not in the laboratory, but with the same set of subjects randomized across treatments. Due to the online setup, we no longer need the six-subject groups and cannot provide the group discussion. Instead, rankings and re-rankings are performed by the subjects in the baseline treatment without any interaction with others. The baseline treatment is subdivided into one subgroup with a neutral request to reevaluate their ranking and one subgroup with an ethically framed request. In the treatment group, after the initial ranking, we report a number of person cards that were either among the top five most likely victims ("mimic treatment") or explicitly not among the top five most likely victims ("attention treatment") of a previous session. Subjects then receive a neutral request to reevaluate their ranking. In contrast to the original plan (see above), we do not actually choose victims who have a payoff loss. The advantage of the new online setup is that we can evaluate each individual's decisions as an independent observation. The downside of the new online setup is that some of the subjects drop out before completing the experiment.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
subjects are recruited with a homogeneous recruiting tool
they are randomized via computer program to different treatments and to different subgroups within each treatment
Randomization Unit
likelihood to be excluded estimates are measured both on an individual level (initial elicitation) and after group interaction (final elicitation)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
120 to 150 individuals in each treatment (i.e. 240 to 300 individuals in total)
Sample size: planned number of observations
120 to 150 individuals in each treatment (i.e. 240 to 300 individuals in total)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
120 to 150 individuals in each treatment (i.e. 240 to 300 individuals in total)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gesellschaft für experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung (GfeW)
IRB Approval Date
2024-01-30
IRB Approval Number
BAzxmptv