A field survey on advice

Last registered on October 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A field survey on advice
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014538
Initial registration date
October 18, 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, 11:01 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
Bihar

Primary Investigator

Name
Joe Vecci
Affiliation
Gothenburg University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lata Gangadharan
PI Affiliation
Monash University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Pushkar Maitra
PI Affiliation
Monash University
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PI Name
Marie Claire Villeval
PI Affiliation
CNRS
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-10-11
End date
2024-10-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
To supplement data from an existing vignette (survey) experiment that studied the factors that impact the willingness to follow advice in India, we aim to conduct a follow up survey.

The survey will measure the characteristics of the past and current village chiefs, attitudes towards misinformation, measures of community social capital and other factors that may be related to advice following. The respondents will be individuals who participated in the initial survey experiment.

This registration supplements the existing proposal submitted under the following ID: AEARCTR-0008659
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gangadharan, Lata et al. 2024. "A field survey on advice ." AEA RCT Registry. October 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14538-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In a previous survey experiment a sample of farmers in Bihar participated in a task. Specifically, participants were provided with a vignette, describing a hypothetical scenario in which participants were asked to consider that they are part of a two-person production team, where their earnings would depend on their choice of effort as well as the choice of effort of the business partner. Putting in high effort incurs higher costs compared to low effort, but it results in greater total revenue for the team. Decisions were made independently and only once.

The vignette mentioned that they had received advice from a person from another village, who had experience in this setup. They were randomly assigned to a treatment where the profile of the person who provided the advice was varied in terms of:
Gender (Male or Female); Caste (Upper caste or Lower caste) and Advice provided (High or Low effort).



Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-10-11
Intervention End Date
2024-10-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We have two main outcomes:
1) A survey question that asks whether "Misinformation is a common problem in this village"?
2) Questions that measure whether advice is followed by people within the village.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In a previous survey experiment a sample of farmers in Bihar participated in a task. Specifically, participants were provided with a vignette, describing a hypothetical scenario in which participants were asked to consider that they are part of a two-person production team, where their earnings would depend on their choice of effort as well as the choice of effort of the business partner. Putting in high effort incurs higher costs compared to low effort, but it results in greater total revenue for the team. Decisions were made independently and only once.

The vignette mentioned that they had received advice from a person from another village, who had experience in this setup. They were randomly assigned to a treatment where the profile of the person who provided the advice was varied in terms of:
Gender (Male or Female); Caste (Upper caste or Lower caste) and Advice provided (High or Low effort).

To supplement this existing survey experiment we will conduct a follow up survey. The survey measures the characteristics of the past and current village chiefs, attitudes towards misinformation, measures of community social capital and other factors that may be related to advice following. This pre analysis plan supplements the existing plan AEARCTR-0008659
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer
Randomization Unit
The individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We have the same number of clusters as observations
Sample size: planned number of observations
We aim to receive survey responses from the respondents in the previous survey experiment: 3153 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Our aim is to reach respondents in the previous survey experiment: 3153 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Refer to the original pre analysis plan.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRRI Research Ethics Committee (IREC)
IRB Approval Date
2021-07-26
IRB Approval Number
2021-0008-A-2015-86
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