Verbal descriptions of risks in financial contexts

Last registered on August 20, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Verbal descriptions of risks in financial contexts
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019378
Initial registration date
August 13, 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
August 20, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Christoph Becker
Affiliation
Heidelberg University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Stefan T. Trautmann
PI Affiliation
Heidelberg University
PI Name
Julia Nolte
PI Affiliation
Tilburg University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-08-17
End date
2026-08-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
Risk labels, risk perception, survey
JEL code(s)
C83, D81, D84
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Risks are often communicated in financial contexts using verbal categories (e.g. “very conservative” or “very risky”) for different ranges of risk. Previous studies have explored how decision makers interpret these labels, finding a large amount of heterogeneity in risk perceptions. In this project we study the reverse – how do decision makers themselves verbally communicate numerical risks. We draw data from an exploratory survey in which respondents are given 6 different numerical risks and are asked to describe them without using numbers or numerical terms. These 6 risks range from relatively small (2%) to quite large probabilities (95%). Respondents are presented these risks in either an ascending, descending or random order. We are primarily interested which terms and descriptions are commonly used for a given risk. We further link this to demographic factors, as well as financial participation and risk attitude.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Becker, Christoph, Julia Nolte and Stefan T. Trautmann. 2026. "Verbal descriptions of risks in financial contexts." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19378-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Eliciting descriptions of numerical risks using open text boxes.
Intervention Start Date
2026-08-17
Intervention End Date
2026-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(i) Descriptions of numerical risks (string).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
(i) Participants are asked to state their own description of a numerical risk. They need to use at least 5 words.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
(i) Financial participation
(ii) Confidence
(iii) Risk tolerance
(iv) Financial literacy
(v) Demographics (age, gender, education, income)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
(i) Binary question
(ii) Self-rating of financial knowledge, 6-item Likert scale
(iii) Risk attitude question from Dohmen et al. (2011)
(iv) 3 items: Breakeven question from CRT, 2 items from the Advanced Literacy Questions (Rooja et al.)
(v) Answers will be used as control variables.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants in the survey are presented with a fictional scenario in which they are asked to consider the risk of their retirement savings getting depleted prematurely. In 6 different questions based on this scenario, they are asked to describe specific percentage risks (e.g. 2%) in their own words.

Participants face these 6 risk questions in 3 different treatment orders, which vary of the risks are presented randomly or in ascending or descending order.

After the main task, participants answer a set of additional questions, as well as basic demographics (age, gender, education, and income). Participants are recruited from a representative US sample (in terms of age, gender, race and political orientation) and earn a flat payment for their participation.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Three treatments, treatments are alternated between participants, participants enter study independently.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
None
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 Prolific participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 participants per treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
None, Experiment is exploratory.
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at Heidelberg University
IRB Approval Date
2026-08-07
IRB Approval Number
FESS-HD-2026-012
Analysis Plan