A survey experiment among politicians

Last registered on May 05, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A survey experiment among politicians
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009142
Initial registration date
March 25, 2022

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 28, 2022, 7:13 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 05, 2023, 9:40 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Netherlands
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Robert Dur
Affiliation
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Paul Prottung
PI Affiliation
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Benedetta Ricci
PI Affiliation
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-04-01
End date
2022-06-08
Keywords
Electoral
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
What do politicians think about policy experimentation? What do they think that voters think about policy experimentation? And is their opinion about and support for policy experimentation affected by learning about what voters actually think about policy experimentation. Those are the questions we address in this survey experiment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dur, Robert, Paul Prottung and Benedetta Ricci. 2023. "A survey experiment among politicians." AEA RCT Registry. May 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9142-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Treatment and control differ in that treated politicians receive information about what voters actually think about policy experimentation before they are asked about what they think about it themselves, whereas politicians in the control learn about this only after. We want to find out whether politicians' opinions change when they learn what voters think about policy experimentation. The data about what voters think have been collected in the Fall of last year and have not yet been published.
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-01
Intervention End Date
2022-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Politicians opinion about and support for policy experimentation
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Politicians are randomly assigned to treatment and control. Treatment and control differ in that treated politicians receive information about what voters actually think about policy experimentation before they are asked about what they think about it themselves, whereas politicians in the control learn about this only after. We want to find out whether politicians' opinions change when they learn what voters think about policy experimentation. The data about what voters think have been collected in the Fall of last year and have not yet been published.
Experimental Design Details
Our key prediction is that politicians who are too pessimistic about voters' appreciation of policy experimentation and are informed about the actual voters' appreciation will report higher appreciation of policy experimentation themselves as compared to similar others in the control group.

Conversely, politicians who are too optimistic about voters' appreciation of policy experimentation and are informed about the actual voters' appreciation will report lower appreciation of policy experimentation themselves as compared to similar others in the control group.

Politicians' appreciation is measured in two ways: their approval on a 7 point scale and their stated willingness to actively support a proposal by a fellow party member to pursue policy experiments much more often.
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual politician. Block design, randomization within political party.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600
Sample size: planned number of observations
600
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 treatment, 300 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Erasmus School of Economics IRB Experimental
IRB Approval Date
2022-03-10
IRB Approval Number
ETH2122-0500
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 08, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
June 08, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
126
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
126
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
66 control, 60 treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
In many public policy areas, randomized policy experiments can greatly contribute to our knowledge of the effects of policies and can thus help to improve public policy. However, policy experiments are not very common. This paper studies whether a lack of appreciation of policy experiments among voters may be the reason for this. Using unique survey data representative of the Dutch electorate, we find clear evidence contradicting this view. Voters strongly support policy experimentation and, in line with theory, particularly so when they do not hold a strong opinion about the policy. In a subsequent survey experiment among Dutch politicians, we find that politicians conform their expressed opinion about policy experiments to what we tell them the actual opinion of voters is. We conclude that voters are not afraid of policy experiments and neither are politicians when we tell them that voters are not.
Citation
Dur, Robert, Arjan Non, Paul Prottung, and Benedetta Ricci. 2023. “Who's Afraid of Policy Experiments?.” OSF Preprints. May 5. osf.io/yshkt.
URL
https://osf.io/yshkt

Reports & Other Materials