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Museums as Policy Tools: The Behavioral Impact of Cultural Experiences

Last registered on October 14, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Museums as Policy Tools: The Behavioral Impact of Cultural Experiences
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014416
Initial registration date
February 24, 2025

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
February 25, 2025, 10:42 AM EST

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

Last updated
October 14, 2025, 6:27 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Italy
Region
Toscana

Primary Investigator

Name
Roberto Rozzi
Affiliation
Royal Holloway University of London
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Paolo Pin
PI Affiliation
University of Siena
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alessandro Stringhi
PI Affiliation
University of Siena
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2025-03-03
End date
2025-05-17
Keywords
Behavior, Other
Additional Keywords
field experiment, cultural engagement, immigration
JEL code(s)
C93, D83, D90
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study explores the role of culture in shaping perceptions of hospitality and attitudes towards immigration. By administering focused museum guided tours, we aim to highlight the potential positive impact of culture on societal attitudes, specifically in promoting the welcoming of immigrants. We propose a field experiment studying the impact of culture on perceptions of hospitality and immigration concerns. We will recruit students from the University of Siena and offer guided tours of the Santa Maria della Scala museum. Half of the visits will be standard museum tours, serving as control visits, while the other half will be specialized tours focused on the role of the pilgrimage to encourage reflections on hospitality and integration. The outcomes will be measured through post-visit surveys and participants' willingness to donate to an NGO supporting immigrants. Our research seeks to demonstrate that focused cultural exposure can enhance empathy and support for immigration, emphasizing the importance of culture in building a more inclusive society.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Pin, Paolo, Roberto Rozzi and Alessandro Stringhi. 2025. "Museums as Policy Tools: The Behavioral Impact of Cultural Experiences." AEA RCT Registry. October 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14416-2.1
Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name
Fondazione Antico Ospedale Santa Maria della Scala
Type
none
URL
https://www.santamariadellascala.com/
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Focused visit at a museum.
Intervention (Hidden)
Our intervention consists of a focused museum visit (treatment) which will be compared with a standard museum visit (control). We individuated a specific museum in Siena called Santa Maria della Scala. Such a museum has a particular history as it was a destination for pilgrims who were making a pilgrimage through the "via Francigena". Many of the pilgrims stayed in Siena even after their pilgrimage and contributed to the well-being of the Santa Maria hospital (and of the city).

With the help of the museum guides, we designed two different tours of the former hospital. The first is the standard visit to the museum while the second will focus on the role of pilgrims. We believe that the treatment visit will present subjects with a positive example of integration that will make them re-evaluate our current situation.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-03
Intervention End Date
2025-05-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) Total donations to two NGOs (Italian Council for Refugees and Italian League for Birds Protection).
2) Specific donations to an NGO operating in the migration field (Italian Council for Refugees).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We incentivize students to take part in the visit by paying them 20 euros (in Amazon gift cards). After the visit to the museum, students will answer a few questions from a survey. In the first part of the survey, we will ask students how much they want to donate to two NGOs: one operating in the field of migration (Italian Council of Refugees) and one unrelated to migration (Italian League for Birds Protection).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1) Self-reported attitudes towards migrants according to the European Social Survey (Round 7).
2) Index on attitudes towards migrants.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
In the second part of the survey (answered after the visits), we will ask students some questions from part B of the European Social Survey (Round 7). These questions are aimed to give us a self-reported assessment of students' attitudes towards migrants. Coherently with previous works in the literature (see attached pdf), we will also build an index on attitudes towards migration which is the standardized sum of each other measure. In particular, we will pick donations to ICR, and the answer to the six questions of the ESS.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Between subjects design, field experiment
Experimental Design Details
Students will be recruited using HROOT from an active subject pool of the University of Siena.

We will incentivize students to go to the Santa Maria della Scala museum by paying them 20 euros (in Amazon gift cards) should they participate in the visit. Subjects will participate in a guided tour of Santa Maria della Scala museum in Siena. The tours will last approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Half of the tours will be control visits unrelated to themes of migration and hospitality: control subjects will visit the museum's isle dedicated to Fonte Gaia. The other half of the tour will focus on the frescoes in the Pilgrimage Hall of the museum. Such tours will focus on the previous role of the museum as a hospital helping people in need. This tour is designed to subtly highlight themes of hospitality and historical migration.

The tour will be performed by employees of the museum who are professional guides. They prepared the itinerary of both visits and they have been instructed to be neutral in the exposition during the tours. It is key that the connection between the themes of the visit in the treated group and immigration arise naturally in the minds of the students, without nudging from the guide.

After the visit, subjects will answer a final questionnaire. At the same time, we will ask subjects if they want to donate a fraction of the show-up fee. This is going to be the primary outcome we will measure to asses the impact of the treatment. Subsequently, subjects will complete part of the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 7 (i.e., B29 to B34). These self-reported measures will be used to investigate the effect of the treatment.
Randomization Method
Randomization is done in the office before the tours.
Randomization Unit
Session level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1 University
Sample size: planned number of observations
The number of subjects will be determined by budget and student availability constraints. In any case, we plan to recruit not less than 164 subjects.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
82 students allocated to the control visit;
82 students allocated to the treatment visit.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Two-sided t-test with effect size 0.3 (medium-low effect), alpha 0.05, and beta 0.8.
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Post visit survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
The document contains the consent form and all the questions that will be asked to each subject after they complete the visits.
File
Post visit survey

MD5: ca60a67d9ef82cf89e47c109ba477b97

SHA1: 7a51823d6214548157842da68444b6e940391432

Uploaded At: February 17, 2025

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comitato Etico per la Ricerca nelle Scienza Umane e Sociali (CAREUS)
IRB Approval Date
2023-09-14
IRB Approval Number
18/2023
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Analysis plan

MD5: 8379189d4486920eec78366ae86c45ed

SHA1: 6b738d71984427aa2ff8376104588fb89385052b

Uploaded At: February 24, 2025

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
April 02, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
April 02, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
2 groups
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
385
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
2 groups 190 in the control and 195 in the treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials