Police Study

Last registered on June 26, 2022

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Police Study

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009233

Initial registration date

June 23, 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

June 26, 2022, 5:26 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

Garrett Stanford

Affiliation

university of Oregon

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2022-06-01

End date

2023-01-31

Keywords

Behavior, Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Governance

Additional Keywords

police, bias

JEL code(s)

J15, J18, K14

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Policing policies and police behavior significantly influence political, social and economic landscapes in the United States. Currently, police interactions with the public are under intense scrutiny. I use an RCT to document the possible presence of bias in police departments.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Stanford, Garrett. 2022. "Police Study." AEA RCT Registry. June 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9233-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2022-06-27

Intervention End Date

2022-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcome of interest for this project concerns whether and how police departments respond to inquiries about officer-complaint forms. In addition to gaining an improved understanding of general response behavior, I seek to document whether departments' behaviors systematically differ across the perceived identity of the individual asking for the officer-complaint form.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

I will use a randomized controlled trial to measure police bias in local police departments across the United States.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Randomly selected police departments
Randomly assigned treatment of race and gender
Randomly assigned week, day and time of intervention
Randomly modified treatment text

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

2,135

Sample size: planned number of observations

2,135

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

2,135 Departments are selected randomly across the United States
Race (White, Black and Hispanic) is assigned equally across departments. E.g., ~2,135/3 departments receive White treatment.
Gender (female and male) is assigned equally across departments. E.g., ~2,135/2 departments receive female treatment.
Departments are assigned to 10 weeks roughly equally. E.g., ~2,135/10 departments are assigned to week 1.
Departments are assigned to 3 weekdays (MTW) roughly equally. E.g., ~2,135/3 departments are assigned to Monday.
Treatment text is assigned equally across departments. E.g., ~2,135/2 departments receive "friendly" treatment.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

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