Voter Responses to Emotional Appeals

Last registered on April 29, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Voter Responses to Emotional Appeals
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004137
Initial registration date
April 26, 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
April 29, 2019, 10:42 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Philippines
Region
Laguna

Primary Investigator

Name
Julien Labonne
Affiliation
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Francesco Trebbi
PI Affiliation
University of British Columbia
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Cesi Cruz
PI Affiliation
University of British Columbia
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-04-09
End date
2019-06-30
Keywords
Electoral, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This project tests the effect of microtargeting of political messaging in election campaigns in the Philippines. It explores how messaging affects voter preferences and beliefs.

The core of the project - conducted in collaboration with a political party - relies on conducting an informational treatment in the context of the 2019 Senatorial elections in the province of Laguna in the Philippines. Voters in randomly selected villages will receive scripted door-to-door visits by party volunteers. Voter in a randomly selected subset of those villages will further receive messages emphasising positive emotions.

The project seeks to answer questions such as:

1. What are the effects of door-to-door visits of party volunteers on voters beliefs and vote choices?
2. What the effects of positive campaign messages on voters beliefs and vote choices?

We will also estimate key parameters of a structural model of vote choice based on elicitation of voters beliefs and heterogenous preferences for policy.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cruz, Cesi, Julien Labonne and Francesco Trebbi. 2019. "Voter Responses to Emotional Appeals." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4137-1.0
Former Citation
Cruz, Cesi, Julien Labonne and Francesco Trebbi. 2019. "Voter Responses to Emotional Appeals." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4137/history/45626
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-04-29
Intervention End Date
2019-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Key outcome variables are: beliefs about candidate, candidate and party valence, vote choice.

The survey instruments will also include a module necessary to estimate the structural model. It is designed to elicit voters' beliefs about candidates and parties.

We will also collect official vote share at the village-level from the Electoral Comission (COMELEC)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The sample will be divided into three groups:
• Treatment 1: Receive door-to-door visits from party volunteers
• Treatment 2: Receive door-to-door visits from party volunteers. The message will be the same as in treatment 1 but the interaction between citizens and volunteers will be structured to emphasize positive emotions
• Control: do not receive any vists.

The door-to-door visits will take place a few days before the elections.

The randomization will be done within municipality.

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization will be done using a Stata code
Randomization Unit
Randomisation at the village-level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
About 200 villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
10 respondents per village for a total of 2,000 observations
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1/3 (pure control), 1/3 (door-to-door visits) and 1/3 (door-to-door visits and emotional messages)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Oxford
IRB Approval Date
2019-04-02
IRB Approval Number
SSD/CUREC1A/BSG_C1A-19-12
IRB Name
University of British Columbia (UBC/Arts/Economics)
IRB Approval Date
2019-03-01
IRB Approval Number
H19-00544
Analysis Plan

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