State engagement with religious leaders for effective COVID19 crisis response

Last registered on July 21, 2020

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

State engagement with religious leaders for effective COVID19 crisis response

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0005740

Initial registration date

April 20, 2020

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 21, 2020, 11:28 AM EDT

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

Last updated

July 21, 2020, 5:50 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Pakistan

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Kate Vyborny

Affiliation

Duke University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-04-08

End date

2020-07-31

Keywords

Governance, Health

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

The goal of this study is to test whether outreach with religious leaders can enhance state effectiveness at dealing with the COVID-19 public health crisis. Many Islamic countries including Pakistan have cancelled or severely restricted congregational prayer to combat the spread of the disease. However, many mosques in Pakistan continue to hold congregational prayer. In a few cases, this has led to clashes between the state and mosques (e.g. in which police assigned to enforce the rules on Friday prayer have had violent confrontations with large gatherings of congregants). With Ramadan beginning on April 23 bringing higher typical attendance as well as the traditional practice of extended evening congregational prayers with a complete recitation of the Quran over the month (Tarawih), compliance with social distancing protocols will be an even greater challenge. There is also a need for accurate information spread on the disease and its mitigation, given widespread myths about the disease. Imams can serve as an initial point of contact trusted by the community to help in rapid dissemination of accurate information. We have a database of contact information for several thousand imams. We will conduct information treatment calls with a randomized sub-sample of imams. As of the date of this pre-registration, we have conducted pilot information treatment calls with approximately 200 imams to date. Resources permitting, we intend to scale this up with a larger sample of imams in the coming weeks.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Vyborny, Kate. 2020. "State engagement with religious leaders for effective COVID19 crisis response." AEA RCT Registry. July 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5740-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Treatment groups receive an information call including health information about COVID-19, information on the health rationale and government decrees regarding congregational prayer, and information on authoritative religious proclamations related to the argument to suspend congregational prayers (fatwas and hadis).

Intervention Start Date

2020-04-08

Intervention End Date

2020-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

For Scale Up Wave I, we have selected the following outcome variables based on the evolving situation on the COVID-19 lockdown and the pilot data.

In the first wave of scaled-up data collection (July 2020) we will examine the following outcomes:
* Self-reported intent to practice mosque level COVID spread mitigation measures:
Keeping sermon short
Cleaning mosque more frequently or more thoroughly than usual
Providing soap / encouraging people to wash with soap
Remove prayer mats and pray on floor / encourage people to bring their own prayer mat and stay on it
Discourage elderly / sick from attending
Asking participants to stay at a distance from each other / Asking participants not to shake hands or hug
Making announcements about health advice in the sermon / over the loudspeaker in the area
Asking congregants to perform wuzu / ablution at home
Asking / requiring all congregants to wear mask in the mosque

* Advice to a "mystery shopper" on:
Wearing masks during congregational prayer
Ablution at home instead of at the mosque
Attendance of the caller's elderly father at prayer

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Based on pilot data and further feedback on the design, for Scale Up Wave I, we are randomizing imams at the individual level into (1) a secular information treatment; (2) a secular + religious information treatment; (3) control; (4) "super control" with no baseline questionnaire.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization using Stata

Randomization Unit

For Scale Up Wave I, we are randomizing imams at the individual level into treatment.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

In Scale Up Wave I, we intend to reach approximately 1,000 respondents; the final sample size for this wave will depend on the successful call rates before Eid holidays.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

In Scale Up Wave I we intend to reach approximately 1,000 respondents, divided equally into:
T1 (secular information)
T2 (secular + religious information)
Control
Super control (no baseline)

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB