Coordination and Diffusion in Peer Networks: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

Last registered on June 16, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Coordination and Diffusion in Peer Networks: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016193
Initial registration date
June 09, 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
June 16, 2025, 6:48 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
Gujarat

Primary Investigator

Name
Srinivasan Vasudevan
Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Laura Schechter
PI Affiliation
University of Wisconsion-Madison
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2025-05-26
End date
2025-06-14
Keywords
Gender, Health
Additional Keywords
social networks, diffusion, social capital
JEL code(s)
J13, J16, O15, O33, I15, Z13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
We implement a social network experiment in peri-urban India. We leverage the randomized variation in social network characteristics generated by a prior intervention (see https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/11131). We combine a novel incentivized “activity sheet” with randomized information “seeding.’’ Women complete eight tasks, including coordination challenges and factual questions, with financial incentives for correct responses. Randomly selected respondents in each Anganwadi (a geographic area) receive correct answers to specific factual questions from the enumerator. Other questions do not involve factual responses but rather require women to coordinate on answers. More details can be understood by looking at the activity sheet posted in the registry. The experiment is designed to shed light on the effect of network characteristics on coordination efforts, and on the interplay between (presence of) credible information and network characteristics on beliefs, knowledge.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Schechter, Laura and Srinivasan Vasudevan. 2025. "Coordination and Diffusion in Peer Networks: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16193-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
There is no intervention in this trial. The purpose of this trial is to measure the impact of the intervention in the previous trial (see https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/11131) on coordination and diffusion, through incentivized information gathering tasks.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-05-26
Intervention End Date
2025-06-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
A) The number of other respondents that gave the same response for question number 1, B) The number of correct unique codes for question number 2, C) The number of correct answers for question numbers 3, 4, and 6, D) The correct answer to question number 5, E) The (mistakenly incorrect) seeded answer to question number 5, and F) The correct answer to question number 8. See the attached activity sheet for the questions.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Whether correct answer to question numbers 3, 4, 6, and 7, separately. Self-reported effort on (time spent, people consulted, etc.) and experience with (difficulty, enjoyment, etc.) the activity.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
All respondents receive an "activity sheet" (attached to this registration) consisting of eight incentivized questions/tasks. The first two tasks involve contacting and coordinating with other respondents. The next six questions involve answering factual questions. The answers to question numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7 are specific numbers and the responses need to exactly match to be considered correct. The answers to question numbers 6 and 8 are approximate numbers and the responses need to lie within specific intervals to be considered correct.

Enumerators visit respondents to deliver the activity sheet. Correct answers to some of the factual questions are revealed to some respondents at the time of delivery as follows. Treatment women in each of the 8 Anganwadis constitute 8 "clusters," and the control women similarly constitute another 8 clusters. Each of the 8 treatment clusters are stratified into two by “take-up” status. Using baseline information, potential take up in the control group is predicted. The 8 control clusters are stratified into two based on potential take up. This leads to 32 strata – 8 Anganwadis each divided into four strata (treated and didn’t take up, treated and did take up, control and predicted not to take up, and control and predicted to take up) each.

In each of the 32 strata, two respondents are randomly selected (by computer code in Stata). One of the randomly selected respondents receives the answers to question numbers 3 and 6, and the other to question numbers 4 and 5. Due to an inadvertent typographical error, the seeded answer (5-digit landline area code) to question number 5 is incorrect: the first four digits of the answer are correct but the last digit in the seeded answer is “2” instead of the correct “0”. For calculating the incentive, both the correct answer and the seeded answer will be awarded the incentive for question number 5. The answers to question numbers 3, 4, and 6 are seeded correctly. All respondents receive the correct answer to question number 7. No respondent receives the correct answer to question number 8.

During the visit to collect the forms, the enumerators administer a short survey on the respondent’s experience with the activity. Respondents receive incentives based on the completion of tasks as detailed in the activity sheet. The payments are delivered electronically.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
N/A. See randomization details in original study at https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/11131.
Randomization Unit
N/A. See randomization details in original study at https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/11131.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
154
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately half in the two arms of the previous trial.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Activity Sheet
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Activity Sheet

MD5: 6a65868f7dd1ed00fb59b74f8cb83b20

SHA1: bf661f7164719e4fed7245cdc650869ca1512b24

Uploaded At: June 09, 2025

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-13
IRB Approval Number
IRB22-1091
IRB Name
IFMR India
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-21
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

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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