The rise of China in the Pacific and its effect on attitudes towards aid

Last registered on October 17, 2019

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The rise of China in the Pacific and its effect on attitudes towards aid

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004249

Initial registration date

May 29, 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

June 10, 2019, 6:35 PM EDT

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

Last updated

October 17, 2019, 2:12 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Australia

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Christopher Hoy

Affiliation

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Terence Wood

PI Affiliation

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-05-10

End date

2020-01-31

Keywords

Other

Additional Keywords

Aid, Public Opinion, Aid Policy

JEL code(s)

F35, C93, F52

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This survey experiment will study whether presenting vignettes on China’s rising aid presence in the Pacific changes views about aid policy in Australia (currently the major donor country to the region).

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Hoy, Christopher and Terence Wood. 2019. "The rise of China in the Pacific and its effect on attitudes towards aid." AEA RCT Registry. October 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4249-1.1

Former Citation

Hoy, Christopher and Terence Wood. 2019. "The rise of China in the Pacific and its effect on attitudes towards aid." AEA RCT Registry. October 17. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4249/history/55295

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

In addition to the control group, two types of ‘information interventions’ will be provided in the survey experiment.

(T1) The ‘just the facts’ treatment group – that will receive a factually-accurate vignette on China’s rise as an aid donor to the region, in which facts are accompanied by matter of fact commentary.

(T2) The ‘emphasis’ treatment group – that will receive a factually accurate vignette on China’s rise in the region, which presents facts and commentary in a manner designed to place heightened emphasis on China’s rise and the risks it brings.

Intervention Start Date

2019-05-10

Intervention End Date

2019-06-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

There are three main outcomes of interest. These are:
1) Desire for level of Australian aid spending to be changed.
2) What the purpose of Australian aid should be (helping developing countries or advancing Australia’s interests).
3) Whether Australian aid to the Pacific should increase as a share of Australian aid spending.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The effect of China’s increased aid presence in the Pacific on Australians’ views about aid will be evaluated via an online survey of a nationally representative (on age and gender) sample of the Australian population.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomisation was conducted using the survey firm’s software.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

2000

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

667

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Power calculations have been conducted to estimate the sample size required based upon the average effect size and treatment group size of similar studies on this topic (e.g. Hoy & Wood (2018)). The minimum detectable effect size on the primary question of interest (Desire for level of aid spending to be changed) is around 7 percentage points (with power 0.8 and alpha 0.05) with a sample size of 667 individuals in each group.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB