Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago II

Last registered on April 26, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago II
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013428
Initial registration date
April 21, 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
April 26, 2024, 11:47 AM EDT

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Haoxuan Liu
Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ariel Kalil
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-04-22
End date
2024-05-20
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This experiment plans to explore how behavioral tools affect parents' redemption rate of an online gift card. From 2022 to 2023, the About Technology in Math Education Project (About TIME) by us, the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab at the University of Chicago, recruited over 1000 families of preschoolers in the Chicago area for a lab experiment and a field experiment to study if educational technology benefits preschoolers' math learning experience. We offered participants online gift cards to incentivize participation. The values of gift cards include $25, $40, and $75. As of April 2024, 283 family parents had yet to redeem the gift cards. To increase the gift card redemption rate with two behavioral approaches, we plan to separate these parents into one treatment group and one control group. Both groups will receive a text message and an email once a week for four weeks. The emails identically include a reminder of the About TIME project and a link to parents' unredeemed gift cards. The text message received by the treatment group tells parents to use the gift card to buy something for their children, and the control group message tells parents to buy something for themselves. We aim to invoke different identities of parents (parental identity or thinking of themselves) and compare how invoking different identities affects parents' decision to redeem the gift card.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kalil, Ariel and Haoxuan Liu. 2024. "Behavioral Approaches to Incentivize Gift Card Redemption among Kindergarteners' Parents in Chicago II." AEA RCT Registry. April 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13428-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Parents who have yet to redeem the gift cards will be randomly assigned to a treatment group or to a control group. Both groups will receive brief information through text messages and emails about the gift card with a link. Besides, one treatment group will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for their children with a gift card. The other treatment group will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for themselves with the gift card. We will send these text messages and emails once a week for four consecutive weeks.
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-22
Intervention End Date
2024-05-13

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Redemption rate of the gift cards
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Redemption time and store of the gift cards
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample size is 283 parents, among whom 43 parents have a balance of $20, 156 parents have a balance of $40, 47 parents have a balance of $75, and 33 parents have a balance of $100. We have 2 parents with a balance of 140, and one parent for each balance of $65, and $80.

For all parents, we randomly assign them to a treatment group or a control group evenly. Both groups will receive brief information through text messages and emails about the gift card with a link. Besides, one treatment group (parental identity group) will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for their children with the gift card. The control group (self identity group) will receive a short sentence that encourages them to buy something for themselves with the gift card. For both groups, We will send text messages and emails once a week for four consecutive weeks.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
We conduct the randomization procedure using a statistical software program.
Randomization Unit
Our unit of randomization is a parent.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We don't design clusters, so the planned number of clusters is 283 parents
Sample size: planned number of observations
283 parents
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
149 parents are assigned to parental identity group, and 134 parents are assigned to self identity group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The MDES is .34 SD with a significance level of .05 and 80% of the power.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The University of Chicago Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-12-13
IRB Approval Number
IRB21-2002-AM006
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information