Messaging and climate change attitudes

Last registered on July 08, 2024

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Messaging and climate change attitudes

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0013930

Initial registration date

July 03, 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

July 08, 2024, 1:43 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Mozambique

Region

Zambezia province

Primary Investigator

Name

Alex Armand

Affiliation

Nova School of Business and Economics

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Stefan Leeffers

PI Affiliation

University College London

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2024-07-02

End date

2024-09-30

Keywords

Agriculture, Environment & Energy, Governance

Additional Keywords

climate change, natural disasters, awareness

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study investigates attitudes towards climate change and risk perceptions in rural Mozambique. We designed a text message campaign to understand whether text messaging can help enhance understanding of climate change. The campaign comprises a set of four messages defining climate change and asking respondents to discuss it with their families and friends. Participants were randomly selected to receive the campaign on their mobile phone. We employ a survey to collect measures of understanding climate change, risk perceptions related to phenomena associated with climate change, perceptions about the consequences of climate change, and mobilization.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Armand, Alex and Stefan Leeffers. 2024. "Messaging and climate change attitudes." AEA RCT Registry. July 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13930-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We designed a text message campaign. The campaign consists of four messages defining climate change and requesting respondents to discuss it with their families and friends. The messages are sent four days, one message per day.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2024-07-02

Intervention End Date

2024-07-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcome variables are based on a phone survey conducted with all participants. The survey aims to understand the respondents' perceptions of climate change and its risks, expected consequences, and awareness and willingness to engage in mitigation and prevention actions.

Climate Change and Risk Perception
• Respondent's understanding of climate change.
• Perception of climate changes in the last ten years.
• Current risk perception for floods, cyclones, droughts, soil degradation, and erosion.
• The probability of these events affecting the household in the next year.
• Expected changes in risk levels for these events.
• Potential consequences of natural disasters and coping strategies.
• Opinion on whether disasters like droughts and floods are acts of God

Consequences of Climate Change
• Perception of the likelihood of various impacts if climate change is not mitigated:
o Reduction in agricultural production.
o Decline in living standards.
o Increase in diseases and health problems.
o Rise in prices of essential goods.
o Increase in migration flows and potential conflict.
o Loss of biodiversity.

Awareness of Mitigation and Prevention
• Opinions on individual and collective actions to mitigate climate change impacts.
• The ability of the population to organize against climate change effects.
• Views on government actions to protect against climate change impacts.
• Agreement with statements regarding preparedness for disasters.
• Willingness to purchase agricultural insurance and the amount willing to pay.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The experimental design is an individual-level RCT. Participants are randomly selected to receive the campaign on their phones. If not selected, they receive a set of placebo text messages.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization was performed using a (random number generator) code in STATA.

Randomization Unit

Individual participant.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A.

Sample size: planned number of observations

The maximum number of respondents is 2,331. Respondents were selected from a separate study, in which we collected relatives and friends living in rural areas from a random sample of rural migrants living in the city of Quelimane, the capital of the Zambezia province. From the complete set of individuals, we dropped respondents who reported being unable to read during previous interviews.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The campaign is randomly assigned across the 2,331 participants, resulting in a treatment group of 1,185 and a control group of 1,146 participants.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

The study includes 1,185 individuals in the treatment group and 1,146 individuals in the control group, with randomization conducted at the individual level. Assuming a two-sided significance level (alpha) of 0.05 and a desired power (1-beta) of 0.80, the power calculation indicates that the study can detect a minimum detectable effect (MDE) of approximately 0.116 standard deviations.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB