Fake News: Susceptibility, Awareness and Solutions

Last registered on April 28, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Fake it till you make it? Individual beliefs on fake news detection

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007616

Initial registration date

April 28, 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

April 28, 2021, 10:27 AM EDT

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

Tiziana Assenza

Affiliation

Toulouse School of Economics

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Alberto Cardaci

PI Affiliation

Goethe University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2021-05-01

End date

2021-12-31

Keywords

Behavior, Other

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

In the context of our research we will use the terminology fake or false news (FN, hereafter) as synonyms, with the meaning of news containing information that provides an inaccurate and incorrect description of facts.
The project aims to answer the following question: Do individuals have accurate beliefs about their ability to discern true and false news?
Holding inaccurate beliefs about own FN detection ability may have a variety of consequences. In particular, it can impact on the perceived magnitude of exposure to fake news and, more importantly, on the way an individual assesses the veracity of the news he, or she, is exposed to. Moreover, people may be more susceptible to fake news than they actually believe and their beliefs about own sensitivity to FN exposure, as well as ideological views, may impact their ability to discern the truth from false information. Furthermore, imprecise beliefs about own sensitivity to false information may have non-negligible effects on individual economic behavior, as well as aggregate welfare.
We employ a representative sample of the US population to conduct a survey with an incentivized fake news detection task.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Assenza, Tiziana and Alberto Cardaci. 2021. "Fake it till you make it? Individual beliefs on fake news detection." AEA RCT Registry. April 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7616-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2021-05-15

Intervention End Date

2021-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Estimate people's prior beliefs and actual ability to correctly assess the accuracy of the information content of the news presented to them (Fake News detection ability)
Explore whether prior beliefs and actual Fake News detection ability are predicted by individual characteristics (e.g., income, education, etc.) and the intensity of social media use and addiction
Study whether subjects update beliefs, change FN detection performance, as well as economic decisions, in response to a signal about own true Fake News detection ability
Explore people's prior belief and attitudes towards socially and economically relevant domains (e.g., vaccination, climate change) and test the causal effect of FN exposure on the beliefs and attitudes within these domains.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This is an incentivized online survey with a control group and 1 treatment group. In the control group, subjects make a fake news detection task and give prior and posterior beliefs about their ability to discern true from false news. The treatment mimic the control group, except that once subjects have completed half of the fake news detection task and we elicit their task specific prior belief about their ability to detect fake news they receive a signal about their actual ability. In all treatments, we collet information on socio-demographic, political orientation and individual characteristics. We run a the survey for the two groups (with different subjects) with and without showing the source of the news for which participants have to assess the veracity.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Computer (online survey)

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

2400 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

2400

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

600

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Toulouse School of Economics

IRB Approval Date

2021-04-19

IRB Approval Number

N/A

Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?

Data Collection Complete

Data Publication

Is public data available?

Program Files

Reports, Papers & Other Materials