Overseeing the Machine: Monitoring the Effort of Political Party Workers

Last registered on August 20, 2019

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Overseeing the Machine: Monitoring the Effort of Political Party Workers

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0003190

Initial registration date

July 30, 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

August 02, 2018, 1:42 AM EDT

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

Last updated

August 20, 2019, 5:13 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Pakistan

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Asad Liaqat

Affiliation

Harvard University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2018-07-01

End date

2020-09-02

Keywords

Electoral

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

C93, D02, D72, P16, D83

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Can monitoring by political parties induce their workers to expend greater effort in electoral campaigns? Through a large-scale field experiment in collaboration with a major political party in Pakistan, I test whether monitoring of political campaigns by the party can induce greater effort by the party's political workers during the campaign and bring about better electoral outcomes for the party.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Liaqat, Asad. 2019. "Overseeing the Machine: Monitoring the Effort of Political Party Workers." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3190-2.0

Former Citation

Liaqat, Asad. 2019. "Overseeing the Machine: Monitoring the Effort of Political Party Workers." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3190/history/52101

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Notice to party workers indicating their effort during the electoral campaign on one of two different kinds of voter populations will be monitored.

Intervention Start Date

2018-07-01

Intervention End Date

2018-07-23

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Party worker effort, turnout and party vote share

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Voter perception of party and party performance, non-electoral political participation, party worker loyalty after election, within-party communication by party worker.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Union Councils randomized into three experimental groups: two treatment groups where party worker effort in mobilizing different kinds of populations is monitored and a control group where party worker effort is not monitored. Within each treatment Union Council, four out of six wards picked at random where effort is monitored.

Experimental Design Details

Union Councils randomized into three experimental groups: two treatment groups where party worker effort in mobilizing either (i) mobilization male voters or (ii) mobilizing both male and female voters is monitored and a control group where party worker effort is not monitored. Within each treatment Union Council, four out of six wards picked at random where effort is monitored.

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Union Councils and wards within Union Councils.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

94 Union Councils with 6 wards each

Sample size: planned number of observations

Number of units: 564 wards within 94 Union Councils. Outcomes will be recorded at: (i) Polling station level, with one or more polling stations per ward (exact number unknown, pending the release of election results by Election Commission of Pakistan) (ii) Voter level (with up to 10 voters surveyed in each ward, for a total of 5,000 voters). (iii) Political worker level, with the main political worker in each treatment and control ward surveyed

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

One third of Union Councils placed in each of two treatment groups and control group. Within each of the two treatment groups, four out of six union councils placed into treatment and the remaining two wards placed into within-treated-UC-control.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB