Nudging Youth to Stay Safe: Summer Messaging Campaigns

Last registered on May 21, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Nudging Youth to Stay Safe: Summer Messaging Campaigns
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002967
Initial registration date
May 17, 2018

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
May 21, 2018, 10:43 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Chicago Crime Lab

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Chicago Crime Lab
PI Affiliation
Booth School of Business

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2017-05-01
End date
2018-09-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In Chicago, many homicides stem from altercations that spiral out of control. How can we help youth avoid the kinds of automatic behavior that can be dangerous or deadly in high-crime urban neighborhoods? In this study, we worked to test whether text messages encouraging youth to slow down and think can help them and make safer decisions, particularly in high-stakes moments.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cooke, Brice, Aurelie Ouss and Anuj Shah. 2018. "Nudging Youth to Stay Safe: Summer Messaging Campaigns." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2967-1.0
Former Citation
Cooke, Brice, Aurelie Ouss and Anuj Shah. 2018. "Nudging Youth to Stay Safe: Summer Messaging Campaigns." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2967/history/29753
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-08-01
Intervention End Date
2017-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Self-reported safety (see analysis plan for more details).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Arrests and victimization, measured using administrative data.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study uses an individual-level RCT design, in which youth are randomly assigned into one of two groups:

C Control group [Placebo non-safety-related inspirational messages]
T Behaviorally-informed safety messages

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in-office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
We randomized individual youth to the possible treatment arms.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 26,000 youth are randomized to receive text messages. We anticipate that between 700 and 1,000 youth will have responded to surveys for each experiment. The sample are the 33,000 youth who applied to the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services One Summer Chicago (OSC) summer jobs and mentorship program, who also provided a cell phone number and opted in to receiving the text message intervention. By the time of intervention delivery in August 2017, approximately 26,000 youth remained opted-in to receiving text messages. For the experiment, we will keep people who were still in the study and were randomized to a treatment arm at that time, and we remove from our analyses youth who did not receive any text message for that experiment.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 13,000 youth in each treatment arm. We anticipate that between 230 and 500 youth in each treatment arm will have responded to surveys for each experiment.
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
University of Chicago
IRB Approval Date
2016-06-29
IRB Approval Number
IRB16-0879
Analysis Plan

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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