Social reference points

Last registered on August 03, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social reference points
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002260
Initial registration date
June 08, 2017

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
June 09, 2017, 4:06 PM EDT

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

Last updated
August 03, 2018, 4:33 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Julien Senn
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jan Schmitz
PI Affiliation
ETH Zurich
PI Name
Christian Zehnder
PI Affiliation
University of Lausanne

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-06-09
End date
2018-06-30
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Lab experiment, Social reference point, Effort provision, Motivation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This laboratory experiment is aimed at evaluating the effects of social reference points on effort provision.
In the context of our study, social reference points are understood as peers with which individuals compare themselves.
Broadly speaking, our experiment is aimed at better understanding a) whether exogenously assigned social reference points affect performance, b) whether endogenously chosen social reference points affect performance differently than exogenously assigned social reference points, and c) how people choose their social reference points. We also plan to study heterogeneity in treatment effects along several interesting dimensions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Schmitz, Jan, Julien Senn and Christian Zehnder. 2018. "Social reference points." AEA RCT Registry. August 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2260-2.0
Former Citation
Schmitz, Jan, Julien Senn and Christian Zehnder. 2018. "Social reference points." AEA RCT Registry. August 03. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2260/history/32604
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-06-09
Intervention End Date
2018-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
effort at a slider task.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Between subjects design. Different social reference point are assigned to different subjects.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Lab study. Treatment randomized by computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
-
Sample size: planned number of observations
About 500.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
100 EXO (min 20 obs per subsample), 60 EXO-BEST, 60 ENDO, 60 RANK-ONLY,
in addition to the 60 DAYONE that have been already collected
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Lausanne
IRB Approval Date
2017-04-24
IRB Approval Number
-
Analysis Plan

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