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Information-Consumption Substitutes

Last registered on January 24, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information-Consumption Substitutes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004181
Initial registration date
May 07, 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
May 13, 2019, 11:49 PM EDT

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

Last updated
January 24, 2023, 10:03 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Joshua Tasoff
Affiliation
Claremont Graduate University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Joshua Tasoff
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Monica Capra
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-01-14
End date
2020-05-02
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Anticipatory Utility, Information Preferences
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Please see attachment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Capra, Monica, Joshua Tasoff and Joshua Tasoff. 2023. "Information-Consumption Substitutes." AEA RCT Registry. January 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4181-2.0
Former Citation
Capra, Monica, Joshua Tasoff and Joshua Tasoff. 2023. "Information-Consumption Substitutes." AEA RCT Registry. January 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4181/history/169961
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-06-01
Intervention End Date
2020-05-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Information preference (Whether ice-cream causes delay in receiving information);
Valuation to avoid electric shocks;
Willingness-to-pay for items
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See attachment
Experimental Design Details
Experiment 1 investigates the effect of current consumption on the demand for information about a potentially negative outcome. The information is a coin flip result as to whether the subject will be shocked at the end of the experiment (coin flipped heads) or not (coin flipped tails). Subjects are presented with a slice of bread and an ice-cream platter sequentially. With each food item before them, subjects are asked to choose the timing to know the coin flip result.

Experiment2 investigates the effect of aversive salient information on consumption. Subjects are randomly assigned to the control group with no information or the treatment group with information. The procedures of these two groups are identical, except that the information group gets a clue about the possibility of future shocks. We then wish to observe how this salient information affects the demand for full information, ice cream, distractors, and a shock block.

Please see pre-analysis plan for details.
Randomization Method
Whether the subject will be assigned to treatment group will be decided by a randomizer generated by Qualtrics prior to the commencement of each session.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will be carried out at individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Subjects are not clustered in our study.
Sample size: planned number of observations
240 in total.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We have 4 conditions in our experiment, each with 60 subjects.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Information-Consumption Substitutes
IRB Approval Date
2019-02-21
IRB Approval Number
3377
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis+Plan-updated.pdf

MD5: cb4355035efbc7507511643e67767179

SHA1: a9b291c5e98e7a1cd953cb4fb1c67addf8326ec6

Uploaded At: February 28, 2020

Pre-Analysis+Plan3.docx

MD5: f792ab1d8771ba4576b36f39f322de3a

SHA1: 1c776b76b246d8fcaf3932aaa5cf61c77bf40c23

Uploaded At: February 17, 2022

Pre-Analysis Plan Hypothetical Scenarios.pdf

MD5: f73a22221eb0358e54c10d380cd50197

SHA1: 8f392ec6c38b0b7a31891ac30605c49ac28fe0fd

Uploaded At: January 24, 2023

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