We aim to conduct a set of surveys and a novel decision-making procedure in order to derive insights into views of unrestricted central authority versus political democracy and political freedom held by people of China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and their diaspora in Canada and the U.S. We are investigating the nature of differences of views on these subjects as they vary by age cohort, education, socioeconomic status, and past political “class background” as that term was understood in China under Mao Zedong, and by region of China or Hong Kong or Taiwan, plus differences in the degree of exposure to life in Canada and the U.S. The project will help social scientists to obtain a better understanding of some factors that may govern whether China will transition from one-party rule to political democracy in the next few decades, a goal frequently expressed by U.S. leaders when adopting an approach of “constructive engagement” in response to China’s post-1978 “reform and opening.” Moreover, it will provide a novel experimental tool that can be used by future researchers to examine preference for democracy in an indirect, incentivized way, which can be a valuable tool in contexts where these issues are politically sensitive.
External Link(s)
Citation
I Chen, Josie, Louis Putterman and Diego Ramos-Toro. 2020. "Attitudes towards democracy and political rights among Chinese and their diaspora." AEA RCT Registry. November 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6791-1.0.
Survey and experimental measures of support for democracy; Political Opinions about China
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Survey measures of trust, cooperation, and conditional cooperation; secondary political opinions about China
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Participants will provide detailed demographic information at the beginning of the survey, and we will have a system that will allow us to select a balanced sample (along dimensions such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status) among those who are interested. We will then collect survey and experimental measures from those deemed eligible to participate. We will initially recruit 1100 participants but will increase the sample size if adequate funding is obtained.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Respondents will be randomly assigned to control and treatment groups by the Qualtrics software.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No
Sample size: planned number of clusters
1100
Sample size: planned number of observations
1100
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
184 per 'representative-experience' treatment branch (i.e., per group of participants exposed to the same 'representative' intervention and to the same randomization embedded in the experiment); 184 per 'placebo/pure control' treatment branch (i.e., per group of participants exposed to no or placebo intervention and to the same randomization embedded in the experiment).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)