Revealed preferences for TV shows

Last registered on December 22, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Revealed preferences for TV shows
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006958
Initial registration date
December 22, 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
December 22, 2020, 1:47 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Christopher Roth
Affiliation
University of Warwick
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
David Yanagizawa-Drott
PI Affiliation
University of Zurich
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PI Name
Leonardo Bursztyn
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
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PI Name
Aakaash Rao
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-12-21
End date
2020-12-24
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We study preferences for watching particular TV shows before making incentivized predictions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bursztyn, Leonardo et al. 2020. "Revealed preferences for TV shows." AEA RCT Registry. December 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6958-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We vary the size of prediction incentives.
Intervention Start Date
2020-12-21
Intervention End Date
2020-12-24

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The key outcome is people's choice of which TV show to watch before making an incentivized guess about a fact.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
One half of respondents receive a prediction incentive of $10; one half receive a prediction incentive of $100.
Experimental Design Details
Respondents are told they will either make a guess about an economic statistic from recent years or about fact related to the coronavirus. To avoid respondents Googling the responses, we truthfully tell them that respondents will have only a few seconds to answer this question, so they will not have the chance to look up the answers online. They are told that if their guess lies within 5 percent of the official value, they will win an Amazon gift card. We randomly vary the value of the gift card to be either $10 or $100. They are also told that before making their choice, they can choose one of a few video clips of TV shows to watch. These shows were all broadcast on the same date, which we selected at random. They are further told that we ask them to make a guess about the statistic at the time of the airing of the show.

For the 500 republican Fox news viewers we offer them to watch one of the following four 4 shows:
Hannity;
Tucker Carlson Tonight;
The Story with Martha McCallum;
The Special Report with Bret Breier.

We create a dummy taking value 1 indicating the choice of an opinion show for respondents who choose either Hannity or Tucker Carlson Tonight.

For the 500 democratic MSNBC viewers we offer them to watch one of the following four 4 shows:
The Rachel Maddow Show;
The Last Word (with Lawrence O'Donnell);
The Beat (with Ari Melber);
MSNBC live.

We create a dummy taking value 1 indicating the choice of an opinion show for respondents who choose either The Rachel Maddow Show or The Last Word (with Lawrence O'Donnell)

We cross-randomize whether the prediction is about:
-- a fact relating to the US economy
-- the unemployment rate in the US
-- annualized GDP growth in the US
-- median weekly earnings in the US
-- the number of COVID-19 cases
Randomization Method
Randomizaition is done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1000
Sample size: planned number of observations
1000 respondents; Half of those respondents are regular viewers of Fox News who are republican; the other half are regular viewers of MSNBC who are democrats.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 respondents are in the low incentive treatment arm
500 respondents are in the high incentive treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC)
IRB Approval Date
2019-10-10
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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