Reducing prejudice and discrimination towards refugees in Germany – Testing the effect of direct contact through joint dinners

Last registered on February 05, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reducing prejudice and discrimination towards refugees in Germany – Testing the effect of direct contact through joint dinners
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001754
Initial registration date
October 31, 2016

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, 2016, 11:40 AM EDT

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

Last updated
February 05, 2018, 11:30 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Peter Pütz
Affiliation
University of Göttingen
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Marion Krämer
PI Affiliation
University of Göttingen
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2016-11-01
End date
2017-10-31
Keywords
Electoral, Governance
Additional Keywords
immigration, integration, prejudice
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In Germany, the influx of refugees since spring 2015 has caused both an immigration-friendly culture of hospitality and growing animosity and anxiety towards refugees. The latter becomes evident in the increasing amount of attacks against refugees’ residences and a steeply rising support for right-wing political parties. This study seeks to investigate whether a voluntary contact with refugees via a “blind dinner” affects German citizens’ prejudice and their intention to discriminate against refugees.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Krämer, Marion and Peter Pütz. 2018. "Reducing prejudice and discrimination towards refugees in Germany – Testing the effect of direct contact through joint dinners ." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1754-4.0
Former Citation
Krämer, Marion and Peter Pütz. 2018. "Reducing prejudice and discrimination towards refugees in Germany – Testing the effect of direct contact through joint dinners ." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1754/history/25498
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2016-11-01
Intervention End Date
2017-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Prejudice

2. Discrimination
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The outcome variables described above are constructed from their corresponding items via factor analytic methods. We describe the procedure exemplarily for one outcome variable: A maximum-likelihood-based factor analysis (R function factanal) for the outcome variable based on its items is conducted. The number of factors is predetermined and set to one according to theory. First, the factor analysis is run for the control group to estimate the factor loadings L. In a second step, the vector of factor score coefficients c of length I (number of items), used for regression based factor score calculation, is calculated using the formula c=R^(-1) l, where R^(-1) denotes the inverse of the item correlation matrix of dimension IxI and l is the vector of factor loadings of length I. The obtained factor score coefficients are first divided by the sum of their absolute values such they add up to one in absolute terms and then multiplied with the answers on the corresponding items for both treatment and control group, resulting in factor scores for each respondent. The scaling of the factor score coefficients ensures that differences in the resulting factor scores are on the same scale like the items which means that a one-point-difference in the scores corresponds to a one-point-difference on all items. The resulting factor scores build one outcome variable. The construction works analogously for all other outcome variables except for the outcome compassion, which is solely based on one item, i.e. no further efforts have to be made.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The effect of the one-time direct contact trough a joint dinner is assessed by a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Data for the study will come from online surveys filled in by residents from German cities.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual (Dinner participant who enrolled for the dinner)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
200 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
around 100 individuals both in treatment and control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
No
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials