Igniting Deliberation in High Stake Decisions: A Field Study

Last registered on March 15, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Igniting Deliberation in High Stake Decisions: A Field Study
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007364
Initial registration date
March 15, 2021

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
March 15, 2021, 10:56 AM EDT

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

Last updated
March 15, 2021, 11:18 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
China
Region
Henan Province

Primary Investigator

Name
Peiyao Shen
Affiliation
ShanghaiTech University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
King King Li
PI Affiliation
Shenzhen University WeBank Institute of Fintech and Shenzhen Audencia Business School, PR China.
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Andreas Hefti
PI Affiliation
I) Department of Economics, University of Zurich and II) School of Management and Law, Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-05-15
End date
2019-11-03
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Information provision, Opportunity costs, Decision mistakes, Involvement
JEL code(s)
D12, D83, D91, I25, L68, O15
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We conduct a large-scale randomized field experiment to study whether providing information about the costs of a high-stake real decision can improve the quality of the choices made. Besides simply providing relevant cost information at face value, we conduct two additional treatments, where we either present the same information in terms of real opportunity costs, or by administering the information via a quiz to ignite deliberation. We find that providing cost information substantially affects the choices made, and reduces the decision mistakes, in particular in the two additional treatments.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hefti, Andreas, King King Li and Peiyao Shen. 2021. "Igniting Deliberation in High Stake Decisions: A Field Study." AEA RCT Registry. March 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7364-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-06-01
Intervention End Date
2019-10-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
purchase decisions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a large-scale randomized field experiment to study whether providing information about the costs of a high-stake real decision can improve the quality of the choices made. Besides simply providing relevant cost information at face value, we conduct two additional treatments, where we either present the same information in terms of real opportunity costs, or by administering the information via a quiz to ignite deliberation.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer randomization through stratification in three variables: number of households, population size, and annual income per capita.
Randomization Unit
village
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
110 Villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
40,000 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
29 villages for control, 27 villages for each treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
ShanghaiTech University Institutional Review Board(上海科技大学科研伦理委员会)
IRB Approval Date
2019-05-07
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
October 08, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
November 03, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
107 villages
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
42,454 households
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
30 villages control, 23 villages Pure Information treatment, 27 villages Milk treatment, 27 villages Involvement treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials