Informed Consent Disclosure

Last registered on October 31, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Informed Consent Disclosure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017119
Initial registration date
October 28, 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
October 31, 2025, 8:30 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Elissa Gentry
Affiliation
Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-11-01
End date
2026-02-01
Keywords
Governance, Health, Other
Additional Keywords
Regulation, risk, informed consent
JEL code(s)
I18, I12, I11, K36, K20
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study uses an experimental context to measure beliefs regarding treatment success rates after exposure to different promotional materials. The experiment assesses the type of disclosure necessary to update beliefs to be more in line with empirical success rates.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gentry, Elissa. 2025. "Informed Consent Disclosure." AEA RCT Registry. October 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17119-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We vary prompts to understand how participants perceive treatment success in response to 1) advertising and 2) disclosures.
Intervention (Hidden)
Participants will receive information about a hypothetical fertility clinic and 3 hypothetical patients. They are told that they will be provided information about these circumstances and asked questions about them. A subset of these questions are eligible for random selection for payment (if correct).

Participants will be randomly assigned into 3 groups: control, promotional, and testimonial. The control group will receive a generic introduction to the clinic, with a logo and a screen about the three doctors in the practice. The promotional group's screens involves promotional speech about the quality of the services provided. The testimonial group's screens involve 2 testimonials, one of a family generically discussing how their experience was better than in other clinics, the other saying that despite their difficult diagnosis they were able to conceive.

Participants also randomly receive either a simple disclosure or a detailed disclosure. Both discuss (for each of the 3 hypothetical patients' conditions) the potential success of fertility treatment. The simple disclosure describes this in qualitative terms, while the detailed disclosure uses more probabilities.

Participants are then asked an objective question about the disclosed information (which is eligible to be drawn for payment) and three subjective questions:
1) is the patient's likelihood of a live birth within a year of egg retrieval above or below a certain probability threshold
2) using a slider, indicate what you believe is the patient's probability
3) if the patient found out that their probability was __, did the participant think the patient received adequate information?
Intervention Start Date
2025-11-01
Intervention End Date
2026-02-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participants' risk perceptions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Participants' perceptions of efficacy with different advertisements and disclosures (controlling for participant characteristics)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We vary prompts to understand how participants perceive treatment success in response to 1) advertising and 2) disclosures.
Experimental Design Details
Participants will receive information about a hypothetical fertility clinic and 3 hypothetical patients. They are told that they will be provided information about these circumstances and asked questions about them. A subset of these questions are eligible for random selection for payment (if correct).

Participants will be randomly assigned into 3 groups: control, promotional, and testimonial. The control group will receive a generic introduction to the clinic, with a logo and a screen about the three doctors in the practice. The promotional group's screens involves promotional speech about the quality of the services provided. The testimonial group's screens involve 2 testimonials, one of a family generically discussing how their experience was better than in other clinics, the other saying that despite their difficult diagnosis they were able to conceive.

Participants also randomly receive either a simple disclosure or a detailed disclosure. Both discuss (for each of the 3 hypothetical patients' conditions) the potential success of fertility treatment. The simple disclosure describes this in qualitative terms, while the detailed disclosure uses more probabilities.

After this disclosure, participants are then asked an objective question about the disclosed information (which is eligible to be drawn for payment) and three subjective questions:
1) is the patient's likelihood of a live birth within a year of egg retrieval above or below a certain probability threshold
2) using a slider, indicate what you believe is the patient's probability
3) if the patient found out that their probability was __, did the participant think the patient received adequate information?

Participants will encounter these three patients in random order. After they complete 3 rounds, they will complete a debrief survey and find out if they earned a bonus.
Randomization Method
Survey is administered in Qualtrics, which provides randomization services.
Randomization Unit
Individuals are randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups and then 2 disclosure groups, resulting in 6 distinct groups. This randomization is inter-individual. Patient order is randomized per individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
120 for the pilot (using only the control and testimonial branches). This data will be used to construct the power test.
Sample size: planned number of observations
120 for the pilot (using only the control and testimonial branches).This data will be used to construct the power test.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
30 per treatment arm for the pilot.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Power calculation to be determined after pilot.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Arizona State University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-10-28
IRB Approval Number
Study 00023256
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