Detecting lying on the individual level? Revisiting the die-under-the-cup paradigm.

Last registered on December 06, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Detecting lying on the individual level? Revisiting the die-under-the-cup paradigm.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002607
Initial registration date
December 04, 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
December 06, 2017, 11:40 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Bern, Institute for Organization and Human Resources

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Bern, Institute for Organization and Human Resources

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-12-05
End date
2018-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Fischbacher and Foellmi-Heusi (2013) introduced the die-rolling task to investigate lying behavior in the laboratory. Subjects are asked to roll a 6-sided die in private and report the number they rolled. The higher the number they report, the more money they gain, unless it is a 6, which leads to a payoff of zero. Since the actual result of the die roll cannot be observed by the experimenter, there is an incentive to cheat by reporting a higher number and thereby getting a higher payoff. An important aspect of this approach is that lying can only be detected on the aggregate, but not on the individual level by comparing the observed distribution with the uniform distribution of a die roll. The advantage is that potential demand effects are reduced and that real lying behavior can be observed. The downside is that it makes the measurement of lying behavior noisy and does not allow to track a single subject. In this experiment, we want to investigate the effect of using a digital die. Subjects learn that every result of the digital die roll is stored, but not checked by the experimenter for the purpose of the payment. If using the digital die leads to the same lying pattern as in Fischbacher and Foellmi-Heusi (2013), this would be a strong motive to use the digital die since it keeps the demand effect low, is easy to implement and offers the additional advantage of allowing to observe individual behavior.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bieberstein, Frauke and Ann-Kathrin Crede. 2017. "Detecting lying on the individual level? Revisiting the die-under-the-cup paradigm.." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2607-1.0
Former Citation
Bieberstein, Frauke and Ann-Kathrin Crede. 2017. "Detecting lying on the individual level? Revisiting the die-under-the-cup paradigm.." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2607/history/23742
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-12-05
Intervention End Date
2018-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Reported result of a 6-sided die roll
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The design and procedures of the control treatment are exactly the same as in Fischbacher and Foellmi-Heusi (2013), in the experimental treatment the conventional die is replaced with a digital die: This experiment will be added to the end of other experiments since it only takes 10 minutes to conduct. After participants finished the first experiment, they are told that a second, very short experiment will follow and that this experiment has nothing to do with the experiment before. The task consists of completing a short questionnaire and afterwards determining the payoff for it by a die roll. Subjects are asked to report the first number they rolled, which determines the payoff: Reporting a 1 leads to a payoff of 1 euro, reporting a 2 leads to a payoff of 2 euros and so on until reporting a 5, while reporting a 6 leads to a payoff of 0.

There are two treatments, which are one-shot and designed in a between subject-design:

Control treatment: Conventional die
In the control treatment, subjects find a cup and a die on their table and are asked to use this die to determine their payoff. They are asked to remember and report the first number they rolled, but are told to roll the die a couple of times to check whether the die is fair.

Experimental treatment: Digital die
The experimental treatment is identical to the control treatment, but instead of a die on the table, subjects find a digital die on their screen which randomly shows a number between 1 and 6 after clicking on a button. In addition, subjects are told that every result of the digital die roll is stored, but not checked by the experimenter for the purpose of the payment.

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by computer (Laboratory experiment)
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
-
Sample size: planned number of observations
Based on power calculations with different specifications, we plan to collect data from 270 subjects. Since we are interested in the null result, it is crucial for our data analysis to consider beta, i.e. the probability to accept H0 when it is false. Our power calculations are based on a high power (1-beta) of 0.95.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We plan to collect 135 observations per treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials