Social change, secularization, and the provision of social and human services

Last registered on April 06, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social change, secularization, and the provision of social and human services
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018202
Initial registration date
March 29, 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
April 06, 2026, 7:49 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Gerald Eisenkopf
Affiliation
University of Vechta
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Alexia Hinnah
PI Affiliation
University of Vechta
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-04-01
End date
2026-07-31
Keywords
Education, Health, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Religion, Church, secularization, Child Care, Human and Social Services
JEL code(s)
Z12, D63, D64, I00
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We provide a survey-based experiment in which we ask participants about their religiosity, their attitudes towards the role of (organized) religion in society and the provision of human and social services by the Catholic Church. We recruit participants via the Lower Saxony Panel (www.niedersachsenpanel.de, representative sample) and conduct additional active recruitment among Roman Catholics in the Oldenburg region in Northwestern Germany. We expect significant differences between these sample regarding the interaction between church and society.
The survey includes a donation game and three vignette experiments on kindergarten choice and policy. In the donation game at the end of the study, participants can donate their participation fee to one of three main nongovernmental welfare associations in the Oldenburg region, the Caritas (Catholic), Diakonie (Lutheran) or the Red Cross (nonreligious).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Eisenkopf, Gerald and Alexia Hinnah. 2026. "Social change, secularization, and the provision of social and human services." AEA RCT Registry. April 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18202-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-04-01
Intervention End Date
2026-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Frequency, amount and allocation of donations
Choices in the vignette studies
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We obtain these measures directly from the survey. One focus will be on the differences between the two samples.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Responses to the survey questions
Rankings regarding church policy
Choices of preferred provider oif social and human services
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We obtain these measures directly from the survey. One focus will be on the differences between the two samples.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study contains a survey, three vignette experiments and a donation game. The vignettes focus on kindergarten choice as a parent, selection of a child into a kindergarten as kindergarten manager and the coice of a kindergarten provider as a citizen.

Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
We use soscisurvey.de to conduct the survey and randomly assign participants into the different treatments of the various vignette studies. We thus have between 16 and 32 treatments per vignette. The treatments vary the information content. The random processes of the three vignettes are uncorrelated, thus treatment assignment in one vignette does not predict assignment in another one.
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1000 individuals, 700 from the Lower Saxony Panel, 300 via active recruitment among catholics.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1000 individuals, 700 from the Lower Saxony Panel, 300 via active recruitment among catholics.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
about 60 per treatment arm per vignette study
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gesellschaft für experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2026-03-09
IRB Approval Number
No. a2bIRe3Z
Analysis Plan