The Effect of a Deliberation-Prompting Intervention in Voluntary Social Distancing

Last registered on October 01, 2020

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Effect of a Deliberation-Prompting Intervention in Voluntary Social Distancing

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0005983

Initial registration date

July 01, 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

July 02, 2020, 1:44 PM EDT

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

Last updated

October 01, 2020, 3:46 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Xiao Yu

Affiliation

Erasmus University Rotterdam/Tinbergen Institute

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2020-07-04

End date

2020-10-31

Keywords

Health

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Existing research findings have shown that voluntary social distancing is a vital element of containing the spread of the coronavirus. When countries start to gradually relax lock-down measures, it is important for the policy makers to consider that individuals’ voluntary social distancing would be beneficial for the society. However, when lock-downs are relaxed there are strong signals which may work against voluntary social distancing. The relaxation of measures may send out a public signal for less alertness, which may also lead to declining compliance to the governmental guidelines. With such policy conundrum, is it possible to promote social distancing by nudging people to deliberate on the consequences of behaviors? This study investigates the effect of a deliberation-prompting intervention in encouraging voluntary social distancing. A randomized experiment will be conducted among the general public in the UK, comparing the deliberation-prompting intervention with a standard information message intervention, as well with a control group with no intervention.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Yu, Xiao. 2020. "The Effect of a Deliberation-Prompting Intervention in Voluntary Social Distancing." AEA RCT Registry. October 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5983-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The experiment consists of two treated groups (information message, information message + deliberation-prompting intervention) and one control group.

Intervention Start Date

2020-07-04

Intervention End Date

2020-07-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

1) behavior intentions on the number of social activities, the number of shop visits and the extent of complying to the one meter plus social distance in the next week.
2) interests in learning about how to avoid crowds.
3) self-reported behavior (from a week later) on the number of social activities, the number of shop visits and the extent of complying to the one meter plus social distance.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The experiment consists of two parts. In part I, subjects are randomly assigned into one of the treated groups or the control group. Immediately after the intervention, some behavior outcomes are elicited. Part II takes place one week after part I. During part II, subjects report their behavior and beliefs.

Experimental Design Details

1) Subjects will be recruited via Prolific. It would be stated at the start that participation in the study involves completion of two surveys, one now and one in a week's time. Subjects will be told that they should only participate if they agree to also participate in the second part, which will take place a week later.
2) Subjects will answer pre-treatment questions on their past behavior.
3) Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of the treated groups of a control group. Those in the treated groups will receive treatments.
4) Subjects will answer questions on behavior intentions and choose whether or not they want to learn about how to avoid crowds. They will also answer background questions such as their contacts with Covid-19, health and housing situation.
5) One week later, all subjects will be invited to participate in the second survey, where they are asked to report their behavior for the last 7 days. They will also be asked about their perceptions on the compliance rate of social distancing among people in their residential communities and among people in their social networks.

Randomization Method

Randomization will be done by the build-in function of Qualtrics

Randomization Unit

The unit of randomization is individual.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

780 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

780 individuals are aimed for the completion of the first survey; the number of individuals following up in the second survey would depend on attrition.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The following sample size is aimed for the completion of the first survey:

260 for the control group, 260 individuals for the information message, 260 individuals for information + deliberation intervention.

The sample size of the second survey would depend on how many subjects would follow up.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB