Profile pictures for experiment on religious hiring discrimination

Last registered on March 23, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Profile pictures for experiment on religious hiring discrimination
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018099
Initial registration date
March 16, 2026

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
March 23, 2026, 7:19 AM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Name
Louise Devos
Affiliation
Ghent University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Louis Lippens
PI Affiliation
Ghent University
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PI Name
Stijn Baert
PI Affiliation
Ghent University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-03-16
End date
2026-03-31
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Validation, Picture, Hiring, Discrimination
JEL code(s)
J71, C93
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The goal of this experiment is to validate a set of AI-generated profile photographs that will later be used in a factorial survey experiment involving recruiters and HR professionals. The photographs are designed to represent young job candidates whose ethnic background is visually ambiguous, while allowing the addition of specific religious cues (e.g., headscarf, cross necklace, beard). The pre-test serves two main objectives. First, it verifies that the baseline photographs do not strongly signal a specific ethnic background. Second, it evaluates whether the selected photographs are comparable in terms of perceived physical attractiveness.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Baert, Stijn, Louise Devos and Louis Lippens. 2026. "Profile pictures for experiment on religious hiring discrimination." AEA RCT Registry. March 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18099-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Participants evaluate a set of fictitious profile photographs on perceived ethnic origin and physical attractiveness that will be used in a later factorial survey experiment on hiring decisions. Each respondent is randomly shown 12 photographs drawn from a universe of 48 photographs.

The photographs depict individuals intended to represent ethnically ambiguous candidates between West-European and minority origins. The full set contains four categories (12 photographs each):
- Ethnically ambiguous men (Maghrebi–West European)
- Ethnically ambiguous women (Maghrebi–West European)
- Ethnically ambiguous men (Eastern European–West European)
- Ethnically ambiguous women (Eastern European–West European)
Intervention Start Date
2026-03-16
Intervention End Date
2026-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Perceived ethnic ambiguity (Maghrebi/Eastern European or Western European)
- Perceived attractiveness
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Photographs will be considered ethnically ambiguous when the mean perceived probability of minority origin is approximately equal to the midpoint (5) of the 0–10 scale. Candidate photos will be selected if they are statistically equivalent to this midpoint within a predefined equivalence margin of ±0.5 scale points.

Equivalence tests will be conducted within each photo category to ensure that the selected photographs do not differ meaningfully in perceived ethnic origin.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Perceived physical attractiveness of the photographed individual, measured on an 11-point Likert scale (0–10).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
For each photograph, the mean attractiveness score will be calculated across respondents. These scores will not determine photo inclusion, but will be retained for use as a control variable in the main factorial survey experiment to account for potential attractiveness effects on hiring evaluations.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This study is a randomized photo evaluation survey. A total of 48 candidate photographs are available. Each respondent evaluates 12 photographs randomly drawn without replacement from the full set.

Participants rate each photograph on:
- perceived ethnic origin;
- perceived physical attractiveness.

Respondents are HR professionals recruited through a research agency.

Participation requires informed consent and agreement with GDPR guidelines. An attention check is included in the survey. Respondents who fail the attention check or who do not provide consent are excluded.

The goal of the study is to identify ethnically ambiguous photographs for use in a subsequent factorial vignette experiment on hiring decisions.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is conducted automatically by the survey software (Qualtrics) using a computer-generated random assignment. Each respondent receives 12 photographs randomly selected from the set of 48 photographs.
Randomization Unit
The individual respondent.

Photograph assignment occurs at the photo level within respondents, meaning each respondent evaluates a randomized subset of the available photographs.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable (no clusters).
Sample size: planned number of observations
140 respondents (HR professionals). Each respondent evaluates 12 photographs, resulting in approximately 1,680 photo evaluations.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Not applicable.
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