Identifying effective message-framing techniques in behavior change communication for healthy diets: An experimental study of promoting biofortified maize adoption in Ethiopia

Last registered on March 24, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Identifying effective message-framing techniques in behavior change communication for healthy diets: An experimental study of promoting biofortified maize adoption in Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006040
Initial registration date
July 15, 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 15, 2020, 10:12 AM EDT

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

Last updated
March 24, 2021, 12:59 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ethiopia
Region
Amhara Regional

Primary Investigator

Name
Kaleb Jada
Affiliation
Wageningen University and Research
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-07-05
End date
2020-08-21
Keywords
Agriculture, Health, Other
Additional Keywords
biofortified maize, human nutrition, health messaging, messaging framing, motivational orientation
JEL code(s)
D91 I12 Q12 C21 D83
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This document describes a pre-analysis plan (PAP) for a lab-in field experiment on promoting biofortified maize. The primary objective of the experiment is to identify effective message-framing techniques to bring about behavior change with regard to production of biofortified maize in Ethiopia. A between-subject design will be implemented to mainly ascertain effects of differently framed health messages on farmers’ willingness to pay. In addition to ascertaining the direct effects of differently framed health messages the study will also investigate potential heterogeneous effects the treatment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Jada, Kaleb. 2021. "Identifying effective message-framing techniques in behavior change communication for healthy diets: An experimental study of promoting biofortified maize adoption in Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. March 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6040-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The treatment is proving two differently framed (loss and gain framed) health message to farmers. The experiment seeks to provide rigorous evidence on the effects of the types of message framing methods on farmer’s willingness to pay for bio fortified maize seed. A between-subject design will be implemented in which study participants will be divided into three groups. Group one will be exposed to loss-framed messages and group two to gain-framed messages. Group three will not get any treatment and will serve as a control group.
Intervention Start Date
2020-07-10
Intervention End Date
2020-08-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Farmers' willingness to pay for maize seeds. To solicit individuals’ WTP Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) approach will be used. The actual procedure will first be explained in detail to the participant, emphasizing that the transaction has to be executed if the participant’s bid is higher than the random number.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A between-subject design will be implemented in which study participants will be divided into three groups. Group one will be exposed to loss-framed messages and group two to gain-framed messages. Group three will not get any treatment and will serve as a control group
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Farmers will be assigned to the three groups randomly. Individual farmers will be asked to draw a number from a bowl that contain three number. The number they picked will be the group number they will be assigned.
Randomization Unit
Individuals farmers
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
576 farm households
Sample size: planned number of observations
576 farm households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
192 farm households
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
0.122 standard deviation
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Social Sciences Ethics Committee (SEC) Wageningen University
IRB Approval Date
2019-12-03
IRB Approval Number
NA
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
August 21, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
August 21, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
648 participants
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
648 participants
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
216 per treatment gain framed message, 216 loss framed message and 216 control
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials