Pre-Analysis Plan for Hypothetical Social Norms

Last registered on August 21, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Pre-Analysis Plan for Hypothetical Social Norms
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013518
Initial registration date
August 09, 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
August 21, 2024, 9:23 AM EDT

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

Last updated
August 21, 2024, 9:43 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Mbale

Primary Investigator

Name
Joshua Hill
Affiliation
University of East Anglia
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Paul Clist
PI Affiliation
University of East Anglia
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-08-23
End date
2024-09-20
Keywords
Behavior, Lab
Additional Keywords
Hypothetical Social Norms, Cooperation, Empirical Expectations, Normative Beliefs, Lab-in-the-Field
JEL code(s)
C71, C91, C92
Secondary IDs
N/a
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Social norms have been shown to be a central part of a wide range of decision making, including cooperation. Social norms have also been shown to be highly susceptible to context, which acts to cue or prime a specific mental mode. Despite recent methodological improvements in eliciting social norms, this has not been extended to ‘hypothetical’ social norms. This study investigates whether ‘hypothetical’ social norms can be reliably determined by ‘actual’ social norms across subjects in a framed Public Goods Game. The primary contributions of this study is methodological.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Clist, Paul and Joshua Hill. 2024. "Pre-Analysis Plan for Hypothetical Social Norms." AEA RCT Registry. August 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13518-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This study does not contain any specific interventions, as it is not directly attempting to change behaviours or policy. The study is comprised of an incentivised survey in two phases. The first phase is to collect actual data on beliefs of five distinct tribal groups in Uganda. The second phase involves a lab-in-the-field experimental design, focusing on one specific group (Gisu), asking a number of incentivised questions related to phase 1. The second phase will also collect data to enable the identification of the underlying mechanisms at work.

The second phase also conducts an incentivised standard single shot public goods game using a community/wall street game frame across two treatments. All players will play the community and wall street game (order reversed for treatment two), but the first game will be actual and the second hypothetical, asking participants to imagine they are playing the other game.
Intervention Start Date
2024-08-23
Intervention End Date
2024-09-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Determining whether hypothetical social norms can accurately determine actual social norms.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We will measure contributions, expectations and norms across both `actual' and `hypothetical' treatments. As there are two treatments, this enables an investigation into whether actual actions and be accurately predicted hypothetically in an incentive compatible way. This will be investigated for contributions, expectations and norms.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
No specific secondary outcomes. Note, this experiment also includes another experiment registered separately on the AEA RCT Registry by the PI under "Pre-Analysis Plan: Social Norms, Values and Misperceptions". Phase 1 and the majority of Phase 2 is not relevant for this specific study.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
No specific secondary outcomes.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Framed public good game, with two treatments: Wall Street / Community Game [actual] -> Community / Wall Street Game [hypothetical]. Further details included in explanations above.
Experimental Design Details
No specific details requiring embargo here.
Randomization Method
Sampling frame employed - see page 5 of attached pre-analysis plan.
Randomization Unit
Sampling frame to be adopted as set out in the attached Pre Analysis Plan, though this will be refined during the pilot process. A sampling frame will be identified (either from electoral register or university/college enrolment records) and participants will be randomly selected and approached for participation.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
300 Gisu participants (though this may increase following reallocation of experimental resources following the completion of the pilot)
Sample size: planned number of observations
300 participants, each providing: one response for contributions, five responses for expectations and five responses for norms, doubled across two frames (community and wall street game). Thus, 300 x (1 + 5 + 5) x 2 = 6,600.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 participants, 22 observations per participant (participant is cluster), across three testing families: Family 1 - contributions, Family 2 - expectations and Family 3 - norms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
This depends on the specific hypothesis - please see power analysis in Appendix 2 of the attached pre-analysis plan. All specifications shown to be sufficiently powered with 300 participants (>80%).
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of East Anglia Ethics Committee (UK)
IRB Approval Date
2024-02-05
IRB Approval Number
ETH2324-0063
IRB Name
LIRA University Research Ethics Commitee
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-22
IRB Approval Number
LUREC-2024-173
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan for Hypothetical Social Norms

MD5: ad282a291b8b2b9c55e62ea3b746730f

SHA1: 9c42542213eea9d878568963ce6dea0da71b2bcf

Uploaded At: August 21, 2024

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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

Request Information

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