The impact of political and coronavirus framings on attitudes to aid

Last registered on February 27, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impact of political and coronavirus framings on attitudes to aid
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007443
Initial registration date
March 30, 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 31, 2021, 10:44 AM EDT

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

Last updated
February 27, 2022, 7:07 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Australia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Terence Wood
Affiliation
The Australian National University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ryan Edwards
PI Affiliation
The Australian National University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-04-07
End date
2023-03-11
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Aid, Public Opinion, Coronavirus
JEL code(s)
F35, C93, F52, I15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This survey experiment will study the impact on public opinion of describing Australia’s foreign aid response using two different frames. The frames used will be: a political frame in which recent increases in foreign aid are expressly tied to the current (conservative) government; and a coronavirus frame in which recent increases in foreign aid will be expressly tied to the use the aid is being put – helping counter the impacts of Covid-19 in developing countries.

The impact will be measured in terms of views on Australian aid volumes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Edwards, Ryan and Terence Wood. 2022. "The impact of political and coronavirus framings on attitudes to aid." AEA RCT Registry. February 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7443-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In addition to the control group, three types of ‘information interventions’ will be provided in the survey experiment.

(T1) A ‘placebo’ group that will receive a factually-accurate vignette about recent increases in Australian foreign aid. This placebo treatment will only contain information on the increases and no information will be provided on why they have occurred.

(T2) A ‘political’ group that will receive a factually-accurate vignette about recent increases in Australian foreign aid. Information on the increases will be almost identical to that provided to the placebo group. However, in the ‘political’ treatment the increases will be clearly linked to the current conservative government. This will be done through the use of party names and the repeated use of the name of the current prime minister. No information on Covid-19 will be included in this treatment.

(T3) A ‘coronavirus’ group that will receive a factually-accurate vignette about recent increases in Australian foreign aid. Information on the increases will be almost identical to that provided to the placebo group. However, in the ‘coronavirus’ treatment the increases will be clearly linked to their focus on combatting Covid-19 in developing countries. No political information or information on political parties will be included in this treatment.
Intervention Start Date
2021-04-14
Intervention End Date
2021-05-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There are two main outcomes of interest. These are:
1) Whether respondents believe that Australian gives too much or too little foreign aid.
2) Whether views on aid volumes differs between left leaning and conservative voters.
Responses to the first outcome of interest are measured on a 5-point scale.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The effects of these treatments will be evaluated via an online survey of a nationally representative (on sociodemographic traits) sample of the Australian population.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation was conducted using the survey firm’s software. Randomization will take place within 18 strata based on gender, age, and political orientation.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
3000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
750
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Power calculations have been conducted to estimate the sample size required based upon the average effect size and treatment group size of similar studies on this topic (e.g. Hoy & Wood (2018)). The minimum detectable effect size on the primary question of interest (desire for level of aid spending to be changed) is around 7 percentage points (with power 0.8 and alpha 0.05) with a sample size of 750 individuals per group.
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Full registration document
Document Type
proposal
Document Description
Details of registration.
File
Full registration document

MD5: fc80ca777e93ff06c17ffb633a006459

SHA1: ec66a35516b91af7a9bf4ee9fa7d358f90f6528a

Uploaded At: March 30, 2021

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
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