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Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Tradeoff between Flexibility and Routinization

Last registered on October 22, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Tradeoff between Flexibility and Routinization
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003471
Initial registration date
October 19, 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
October 22, 2018, 1:06 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2015-03-03
End date
2016-01-26
Secondary IDs
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02346799
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine whether healthy habits can be formed more effectively when people are rewarded for repeated engagement in a given healthy behavior at a specific, routinized time each day rather than at any time.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Beshears, John et al. 2018. "Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Tradeoff between Flexibility and Routinization." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3471-1.0
Former Citation
Beshears, John et al. 2018. "Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Tradeoff between Flexibility and Routinization." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3471/history/36047
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2015-03-03
Intervention End Date
2015-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
gym visits during the four-week intervention period and gym visits during the four weeks following the intervention period
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will be randomly assigned in pairs to three conditions:
1) control: receive daily reminder emails before the two-hour workout window selected at the beginning of the study
2) flexible incentives: in addition to daily reminder emails, receive $3 or $7 (randomly assigned at the beginning of the study) for each gym visit that is completed during the four-week intervention period (up to one per day)
3) routine incentives: in addition to daily reminder emails, receive $3 or $7 (randomly assigned at the beginning of the study) for each gym visit that is completed during the four-week intervention period _and_ that is initiated during the two-hour workout window selected at the beginning of the study
[note that a planned fourth experimental condition was dropped because study enrollment was lower than targeted]
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
pairs of participants (participants registered for the study in pairs)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1254 pairs of participants
Sample size: planned number of observations
2508 participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
66 pairs assigned to control, 597 pairs assigned to flexible incentives (300 pairs with $3 incentives, 297 pairs with $7 incentives), 591 pairs assigned to routine incentives (297 pairs with $3 incentives, 294 pairs with $7 incentives)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Study has received IRB approval. Details not available.
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
Details not available

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 31, 2015, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 26, 2016, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials