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Evaluating Social Media
Last registered on January 08, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information
General Information
Title
Evaluating Social Media
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003409
Initial registration date
October 11, 2018
Last updated
January 08, 2019 5:52 PM EST
Location(s)
Country
United States of America
Region
Primary Investigator
Name
Raj Bhargava
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator
Other Primary Investigator(s)
PI Name
Hunt Allcott
PI Affiliation
New York University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Matthew Gentzkow
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Luca Braghieri
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Sarah Eichmeyer
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
Contact Investigator
Additional Trial Information
Status
Completed
Start date
2018-09-24
End date
2018-12-06
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In order to avoid experimenter demand effects, we describe the study in fields that will not become public until after the experiment is over.
External Link(s)
Registration Citation
Citation
Allcott, Hunt et al. 2019. "Evaluating Social Media." AEA RCT Registry. January 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3409-3.0.
Former Citation
Allcott, Hunt et al. 2019. "Evaluating Social Media." AEA RCT Registry. January 08. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3409/history/40050.
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details
Interventions
Intervention(s)
In order to avoid experimenter demand effects, we describe the study in fields that will not become public until after the experiment is over.
Intervention Start Date
2018-10-11
Intervention End Date
2018-12-06
Primary Outcomes
Primary Outcomes (end points)
See the analysis plan for more information.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See the analysis plan for more information.
Secondary Outcomes
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Experimental Design
In order to avoid experimenter demand effects, we describe this in the field that will not become public until after the experiment is over.
Experimental Design Details
The rise of social media has profoundly influenced the way many people communicate and get information. There has been growing concern that social media may have unintended negative impacts. Many correlation studies find that higher social media use is associated with lower subjective well-being and mental health. To test these concerns, we carry out a randomized experiment in a large sample of U.S. Facebook users in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections where individuals in a treatment group will deactivate their Facebook accounts for four weeks. We recruit our sample via Facebook ads and measure participants' willingness-to-accept (WTA) to deactivate Facebook for four weeks using an incentive-compatible Becker-DeGroot-Marschak survey technique. A Treatment group is randomly assigned to receive an offer price of $102, which is sufficient to induce most of them to deactivate, while a Control group is assigned to receive an offer of $0 and thus remain active, and a third (very small) group receives price offers randomly drawn from a continuous distribution. With informed consent from all participants, we measure a suite of outcomes using text messages, online surveys, responses to emails about political topics and apps to limit social media use, online data measuring participants' activity on Twitter and Facebook, and administrative records on voting and electoral contributions.
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No
Experiment Characteristics
Sample size: planned number of clusters
3,051 individuals.
Sample size: planned number of observations
3,051 individuals.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
See the analysis plan for more information.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS (IRBs)
IRB Name
New York University University Committee on Activities Involving Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2018-09-06
IRB Approval Number
IRB-FY2018-2139
IRB Name
Stanford University Panel on Human Subjects in Non-Medical Research
IRB Approval Date
2018-06-04
IRB Approval Number
45403
Analysis Plan
Analysis Plan Documents
Evaluating social media pre-analysis plan Oct 12

MD5: 3cbb354f33de381ebee2f5cdddcff672

SHA1: 56d7ecaf92f21cf792677fc67974952c92d93628

Uploaded At: October 12, 2018

Evaluating social media pre-analysis plan Nov 7

MD5: e3f90c8a8988298710ad1051ff01f2cb

SHA1: f8a0d89fccc45c67462f452d522a14c127c6d587

Uploaded At: November 07, 2018

Post-Trial
Post Trial Information
Study Withdrawal
Intervention
Is the intervention completed?
No
Is data collection complete?
Data Publication
Data Publication
Is public data available?
No
Program Files
Program Files
Reports and Papers
Preliminary Reports
Relevant Papers