Money vs. Pearls of Wisdom: personalising incentives for behavioral change

Last registered on June 26, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Money vs. Pearls of Wisdom: personalising incentives for behavioral change
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002452
Initial registration date
September 22, 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
October 02, 2017, 10:12 AM EDT

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

Last updated
June 26, 2018, 10:47 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region
Lausanne

Primary Investigator

Name
Gabriela Villalobos
Affiliation
Université de Lausanne
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Mauro Cherubini
PI Affiliation
Université de Lausanne
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-06-01
End date
2018-03-31
Keywords
Health
Additional Keywords
hci, human motivation, persuasive technology, intrinsic motivation theory
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This study is to test the hypotheses of the effects of motivational messages and economic incentives on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towards physical activity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cherubini, Mauro and Gabriela Villalobos. 2018. "Money vs. Pearls of Wisdom: personalising incentives for behavioral change." AEA RCT Registry. June 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2452-3.0
Former Citation
Cherubini, Mauro and Gabriela Villalobos. 2018. "Money vs. Pearls of Wisdom: personalising incentives for behavioral change." AEA RCT Registry. June 26. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2452/history/31217
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Participants are nudge through motivational messages and economic incentives using a mobile application, aiming to increase their level of physical activity. This intervention is deployed over a 7 month period.
Intervention Start Date
2017-06-01
Intervention End Date
2018-01-11

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Determining the effects of economic incentives and motivational messages on the participant's level of physical activity.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study follows a between-subject design with 4 conditions: Fix incentive(FIX), Motivational Message(POW), Lottery(LOT) and Control(CON).
The study will be longitudinal with a 7 months observation period.
Participants will be provided with a mobile application that will retrieve the steps information from their phone.

Hypotheses
H1. People with a high intrinsic motivation will make more steps than participants with low intrinsic motivation.

H2a. At the end of the experiment phase, the intrinsic motivation of the participants receiving a tangible incentive will be lower than the intrinsic motivation measured at the beginning of the experiment.

H2b. At the end of the experiment phase, the intrinsic motivation of the participants receiving motivational messages will be higher than the intrinsic motivation measured at the beginning of the experiment.

H3a. During the experimental and post experimental phases participants receiving a tangible incentive will be less physically active than participants in other conditions.

H3b. During the experimental and post experimental phases participants receiving motivational messages will be more physically active than participants in other conditions

Dependent Variable:
Number of steps/ Physical activity

Independent Variables:
Fix incentive Condition (FIX)
Motivational Message Condition (POW)
Lottery Condition (LOT)
Control Condition (CON)

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Participants are assigned to each group condition based on their Intrinsic Motivation Inventory Score.
Randomization Unit
1
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
~250 participants
Sample size: planned number of observations
~250 participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
~50 participants control condition, ~50 participants POW condition, ~50 participants fix incentive condition, ~50 participants Lottery condition
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Labex ethical committee
IRB Approval Date
2017-05-18
IRB Approval Number
-
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 31, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
March 31, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
220
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
53 participants control condition, 47 participants POW condition, 69 participants fix incentive condition, 51 participants Lottery condition
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials