Voter Behavior in Regional Elections in Indonesia: A Conjoint Experiment

Last registered on October 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Voter Behavior in Regional Elections in Indonesia: A Conjoint Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014524
Initial registration date
October 19, 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
October 19, 2024, 11:04 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Indonesia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Hui-Yuan Neo
Affiliation
Cornell University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Harry Dienes
PI Affiliation
Cornell University
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PI Name
Eitan Paul
PI Affiliation
J-PAL
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PI Name
Afrimadona Afrimadona
PI Affiliation
Populi Center
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-10-20
End date
2024-10-31
Keywords
Behavior, Electoral, Governance
Additional Keywords
comparative politics
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Indonesia has a weak political party system; most voters do not have a strong partisan identity and many political parties are not built on clear ideological platforms and do not take specific or consistent policy positions. Moreover, coalitions for regional executive elections in Indonesia often include ideologically distant parties that are opponents at the national level. Existing research similarly shows that a mix of factors, including policy platform and candidate quality (Fossati 2016) contribute equally to their vote choice. How, then, do voters decide which regional executive candidate to support when the coalitions backing them feature parties that are rivals at the national level? We answer this research question through a conjoint experiment that tests which policy, party, or candidate characteristics matter the most in affecting vote choice in regional executive elections – including whether what candidates wear affects voter choice. The experiment presents respondents, who are Indonesian voters, with different hypothetical profiles of candidates for district governor (bupati) or mayor (walikota) with randomized demographic, political, and career and family backgrounds. The study contributes to a growing literature on subnational political behavior in Indonesia. It will present a systematic test of characteristics that have been identified by the literature as meaningful, across the spectrum of policy positions, candidate characteristics, and party identity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Afrimadona, Afrimadona et al. 2024. "Voter Behavior in Regional Elections in Indonesia: A Conjoint Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. October 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14524-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will field a conjoint experiment that features 10 attributes, each with between two to twelve levels. The 10 attributes are: appearance, party name, party backing the candidate, family background, education level, economic policy, social policy, career background, whether they were appointed by the national government, and democratic attitude. The experiment then presents respondents, who are Indonesian voters, with different hypothetical profiles of candidates for regent (bupati) or mayor (walikota) that rotate through this randomized set of demographic and political characteristics.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-10-20
Intervention End Date
2024-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Vote choice
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will present voters with 12 pairs of hypothetical candidate profiles to choose between in a conjoint experiment. We also include a series of demographic questions in the survey.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Conjoint randomization of attributes by Qualtrics
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1500
Sample size: planned number of observations
1500
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4500
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Using Freitag and Schuessler (2020), our minimum respondents needed is 522.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Cornell University Institutional Review Board for Human Participant Research
IRB Approval Date
2024-02-23
IRB Approval Number
IRB0148001
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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