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Field
Trial Start Date
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Before
November 24, 2025
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After
March 16, 2026
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Field
Trial End Date
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Before
July 01, 2026
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After
December 31, 2026
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Field
Last Published
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Before
October 13, 2025 10:08 AM
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After
March 15, 2026 07:29 PM
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Field
Intervention Start Date
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Before
November 24, 2025
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After
March 16, 2026
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
February 27, 2026
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After
December 31, 2026
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
The primary outcomes we will measure are variables related to the attention paid by the individual to each one of the speakers and their retention of information.
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After
We will focus on two primary outcomes:
1) Face gaze share.
2) Avatar story recall.
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Field
Primary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
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After
1) Face gaze share measures the proportion of visual attention directed toward the avatar’s face during the interaction. It is defined as the share of total fixation time that falls within the predefined face region of interest (ROI) of the avatar. Fixations are identified using the eye-tracking algorithm implemented in the VR headset software. The outcome ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater allocation of visual attention to the avatar’s face. The regions of interest included in the definition of face are: Left and right eyes, left and right cheek, and lips. The regions of interest not included in the definition of face are: Face neighborhood, left or right shoulder, upper torso, table, and background.
2) Avatar story recall measures whether participants correctly recall key information contained in the story (randomly) associated with each avatar. After each interaction, participants answer four questions about the story presented by the avatar. The outcome is coded as an indicator equal to 1 if the participant correctly answers the question related to the avatar’s story and 0 otherwise. We will then construct a variable representing the share of correct answers.
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Participants take part in an immersive experimental task examining how features of an information source influence attention and learning. The study follows a 2×2 design, reflecting combinations of two different individual characteristics of the speakers. Each participant is exposed to four short stories, with each speaker randomly assigned to narrate one of them, ensuring that all participants experience the same set of stories under different presentation conditions.
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After
The core experimental variation follows a 2×2 design based on two observable characteristics of the speakers: gender (male, female) and ethnicity (White, Black). This results in four avatar types.
Each avatar delivers one of four standardized stories. The pairing between avatars and stories is randomized across participants. Because four avatars can be paired with four stories, the experiment generates 16 possible avatar–story combinations.
The primary treatment variation of interest operates at the avatar identity level (gender × ethnicity). Story content is included as a control through story fixed effects in the analysis.
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Randomization Method
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Before
Randomization occurs at the individual level within each experimental session. Each session will include up to 30 participants, who complete the task simultaneously in a controlled environment. Participants are randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions corresponding to the different combinations of speaker characteristics.
Each participant views four short stories, and for each story, one of the four digital speakers is randomly selected to deliver it. This ensures that all participants are exposed to the same set of stories, but the pairing between story and speaker varies randomly across individuals. Randomization is implemented through random assignment in the experimental software.
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After
Randomization occurs at the individual participant level within each experimental session. Participants attend laboratory sessions with up to 20 individuals completing the task simultaneously; however, sessions serve only as logistical groupings and are not units of treatment assignment.
Each participant is exposed to four avatars and four stories during the VR interaction stage. The mapping between avatars and stories is randomized at the participant level, such that each story is delivered by one of the four avatar types (male–White, male–Black, female–White, female–Black).
Because four avatars can be paired with four stories, the randomization generates 16 possible avatar–story combinations across participants. This design ensures that story content and avatar characteristics vary independently in the sample.
In the analysis, treatment effects are identified from variation in avatar identity within each story, with story fixed effects included to control for differences in narrative content.
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Field
Randomization Unit
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Before
The randomization is conducted at the individual level. Within each experimental session (involving up to 30 participants), each participant is randomly assigned to hear the stories narrated by one of the four speakers.
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After
Randomization occurs at the individual participant level within each experimental session. Participants attend laboratory sessions with up to 20 individuals completing the task simultaneously; however, the session serves only as a logistical grouping. Within each session, participants are independently assigned to a randomized mapping between the four avatars and the four stories presented during the VR interaction stage.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
Not applicable (no clustering).
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After
Not applicable. Randomization occurs at the individual participant level, not at a clustered level. Participants are recruited and participate in laboratory sessions of up to 20 individuals, but sessions serve only as logistical groupings and are not units of treatment assignment.
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
The planned number of observations is 2,200, although we will try to collect more based on funding availability.
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After
1,200 individual participants. This is the planned target sample size for the study. If recruitment and resources allow, the final sample may exceed this number, but the study is designed around a target of 1,200 observations.
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
The planned sample size is of 2,200 students, although we will try to collect more based on funding availability.
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After
Participants are randomly assigned at the individual level to one of 16 avatar–story combinations, reflecting the crossing of avatar identity and message story. The primary treatment effects of interest operate at the avatar level. Accordingly, the main specifications pool observations across stories and include story fixed effects, so that treatment effects are identified from variation in avatar assignment within each story. Analyses at the avatar–story combination level are treated as secondary treatments.
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Field
Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes
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Before
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After
The study targets 1,200 participants, each contributing four avatar-level observations, for a total of 4,800 participant–avatar observations. The main power calculation is based on the primary avatar-level specification with participant fixed effects, story fixed effects, and order fixed effects, and with standard errors clustered at the participant level.
In the absence of pilot data, the calculation relies on standard design assumptions. Specifically, we assume balanced treatment assignment, 80% power, a 5% two-sided significance level, a within-participant correlation of 0.4 to account for repeated observations within individuals, and an outcome standard deviation of 0.25 for primary outcomes measured on a 0–1 scale. Under these assumptions, the minimum detectable effect for the main avatar-level treatment effects is approximately 0.12 standard deviations, corresponding to about 0.03 points on the 0–1 scale, or roughly 3 percentage points.
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Field
Intervention (Hidden)
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Before
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After
The intervention consists of exposure to virtual avatars delivering narrated stories in an immersive VR environment.
The experiment manipulates two dimensions of the interaction:
Avatar characteristics.
Participants interact with virtual avatars that differ along observable characteristics, including gender and ethnicity.
Narrative stories.
Avatars deliver short narrated stories drawn from a standardized set of four narratives:
(i) a scientific-information story,
(ii) a gender-related story,
(iii) an immigration-related story, and
(iv) a story combining gender and immigration themes.
The pairing between avatars and stories is randomized across participants. As a result, the same story may be delivered by different avatars for different participants. This randomization ensures that the content of the narrative and the observable characteristics of the avatar are independently varied.
Participants are exposed to the avatar–story pairs during the VR interaction stage of the experiment.
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
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After
The variables we will use as secondary outcomes are:
1) Trust behavior toward avatars: Amount of money allocated to each avatar in the trust game.
2) Beliefs about trustworthiness: Participant expectations about how much each avatar returned in the trust game.
3) Avatar and story evaluations: Self-reported enjoyment and liking of the speakers and stories.
4) Post-experience social attitudes: Responses to survey questions on immigration, gender norms, and broader public policy preferences measured after the VR experience.
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
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After
Secondary outcomes capture behavioral responses toward avatars, beliefs about their trustworthiness, subjective evaluations of the VR interaction, and changes in social attitudes following the experience.
• Trust behavior: Participants receive an endowment of $5 and decide how much to allocate to each of four avatars. Allocations are made independently for each avatar, and the amount sent is tripled before reaching the avatar. The amount allocated to each avatar constitutes the behavioral measure of trust toward that character.
• Expected reciprocity: After the trust game outcome is revealed, participants report how much they believe each avatar returned. These responses capture beliefs about the trustworthiness and expected reciprocity of each avatar.
• Avatar and story evaluations: Participants rate how much they enjoyed each speaker and each story on a 0–10 scale. These measures capture subjective reactions to the avatars and narratives presented during the VR experience.
• Post-experience social attitudes: After the VR interaction, participants respond to a set of attitudinal questions regarding immigration, gender roles, and broader public policy questions. Responses are measured on Likert scales (from -2 to 2; -2 = strongly disagree; -1 = somewhat disagree; 0 = neither agree or disagree; 1 = somewhat agree; 2 = strongly agree) and will be analyzed both individually and through composite indices constructed using principal component analysis.
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