Question-order effects of subjective well-being: A cross-country survey experiment

Last registered on December 18, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Question-order effects of subjective well-being: A cross-country survey experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004396
Initial registration date
July 01, 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
July 10, 2019, 2:25 PM EDT

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

Last updated
December 18, 2023, 2:05 AM EST

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

Locations

Region
Region
Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Connecticut

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-02-27
End date
2020-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Subjective well-being (SWB) has become a key tool to augment the usual measures of economic prosperity in order to proxy for welfare in sustainable development policies. In particular, the concept of life satisfaction as people’s own assessment of feelings and attitudes is included in numerous surveys across many countries, including the Gallup World Poll. For this reason, we aim to understand the robustness of this measurement in surveys. Specifically, we will look at question-order on self-reported life satisfaction questions. Our research questions are (i) does respondent’s perception of life satisfaction change when asked at the beginning or end of the questionnaire? and (ii) does respondent’s perception of life satisfaction change when asked directly after a sensitive question?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fiala, Nathan. 2023. "Question-order effects of subjective well-being: A cross-country survey experiment ." AEA RCT Registry. December 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4396-3.0
Former Citation
Fiala, Nathan. 2023. "Question-order effects of subjective well-being: A cross-country survey experiment ." AEA RCT Registry. December 18. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4396/history/205588
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2019-02-27
Intervention End Date
2020-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Subjective well-being
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We vary the position of the Cantril Scale of subjective well-being to (i) either being asked at the beginning or end of the questionnaire, and (ii) either after a sensitive question, or not after a sensitive question.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization programmed in the survey design
Randomization Unit
Individual-level randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
10 520 respondents
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2630 per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-26
IRB Approval Number
14718
IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2019-01-24
IRB Approval Number
14718
Analysis Plan

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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