Evaluating data privacy choices

Last registered on December 23, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Evaluating data privacy choices
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004000
Initial registration date
March 12, 2019

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
March 15, 2019, 11:06 AM EDT

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

Last updated
December 23, 2022, 5:16 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Cornell University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Withdrawn
Start date
2019-03-14
End date
2023-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
A description of this study will be in fields that will not become public until the experiment has completed.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Wu, Joy. 2022. "Evaluating data privacy choices." AEA RCT Registry. December 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4000-4.0
Former Citation
Wu, Joy. 2022. "Evaluating data privacy choices." AEA RCT Registry. December 23. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4000/history/166798
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A description of this study will be in fields that will not become public until the experiment has completed.
Intervention Start Date
2019-03-14
Intervention End Date
2019-03-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcome is described in fields that are hidden until experiment has completed.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes are described in fields that are hidden until experiment has completed.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A description of this study will be in fields that will not become public until the experiment has completed.
Experimental Design Details
Participants are recruited for an online study through the aforementioned Cornell University IRB approved participant recruitment system. The Lab pre-screens participants to verify their eligibility. Time slots for participants are open approximately 9 days before the survey is active. The lab administrator also sends an advertisement for available studies on Mondays. Approximately 3 days before the survey's participation deadline, the experimenter sends personal links for the survey to each registered participant's email. All participants read an IRB reviewed and approved online consent form; they are required to actively consent to the form and verify that they are over 18 years of age.

At the beginning of the survey, participants answer 50 questions taken from the open source International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), which are widely used to administer personal tests based on the Five-Factor Model. Participants are scored across five personal traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect. The survey generates these scores based on participants’ responses to the 50 questions and displays it to the participant in a table along with their first and last name (collected by the Lab in pre-screenings). A description of how to interpret these personality scores is also provided to the participant. The survey then randomly assigns participants to one of three groups. In the control group, participants are told they will determine their willingness to share data with one other participant. In the treatment group, participants are told they will determine their willingness to share data with one other participant who will earn bonus money based on how much personal data they receive from other participants. In the other group, participants are told they will determine their willingness to share data with many other participants. In the final group, participants are treated with both.

Reservation prices for sharing data are elicited through an incentive-compatible Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) survey technique. With a slider, participants visually indicate the minimum amount (up to two decimal places) they are willing to accept between $0 and $5, including an option to accept no price in that range. Participants are explicitly told that this mechanism was chosen so that they can do no better than to answer honestly. Additional information on how their response determines their earnings and data sharing outcome is also provided. Once participants indicate their minimum, the survey generates a price to offer them, which determines whether they release their data (and earn bonus money) or not.

Exit survey includes a suite of questions about demographics, social media activity, data privacy concerns, and acceptability of various data privacy scenarios. Participants also enter a lottery to earn additional bonus money if they complete the exit survey questions. Data on time spent per question is also recorded by the survey. The experiment intends to avoid all deception, so all participant choices to share personal data and earnings outcomes are for real. Approximately one week after the participation deadline, personal data is released to pre-selected participants in an email, and the Lab administrator electronically delivers Amazon gift cards total earnings.
Randomization Method
Done by online survey tool
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200-300 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
200-300 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Equal number of control and treated individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Cornell University Institutional Review Board for Human Participants
IRB Approval Date
2018-08-27
IRB Approval Number
1806008035

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