Play for the Mangroves: Using Sports to Engage Youth in Mangrove Conservation

Last registered on March 18, 2023

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Play for the Mangroves: Using Sports to Engage Youth in Mangrove Conservation

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009420

Initial registration date

June 07, 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 15, 2022, 9:59 AM EDT

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

Last updated

March 18, 2023, 1:26 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Dominican Republic

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Christopher Knittel

Affiliation

MIT

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Jennifer Alix-García

PI Affiliation

Oregon State University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Laura Rodríguez

PI Affiliation

Innovations for Poverty Action

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-06-01

End date

2023-10-31

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Q20; Q56; I29

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

Using a randomized control trial, we will assess the hypothesis that exposing individuals to relevant information about the importance of their local mangroves and providing them with sports equipment to incentivize their participation in these training leads to measurable changes in environmental awareness, behaviors, and attitudes while promoting good health, teamwork, and leadership through sports. Additionally, we will measure spillovers to their family members and kids outside of the treatment group in the treated communities.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Alix-García, Jennifer, Christopher Knittel and Laura Rodríguez. 2023. "Play for the Mangroves: Using Sports to Engage Youth in Mangrove Conservation." AEA RCT Registry. March 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9420-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

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

Request Information

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Study participants attend a one-day training session where they will receive an information session about the importance of mangroves, and participate in a hands on activity in the mangroves.

Pre-intervention
-Baseline survey: Measure environmental attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of both kids and their parents. Also, measure perceptions about mangroves and sports participation.

Intervention
-Control: Participants receive a placebo information session.
-Treatment: Participants receive an information session about the importance of mangroves + participate in hands-on environmental activity.

Post-intervention
-Endline survey: Measure environmental attitudes, behavior, willingness to pay, and knowledge. Also, measure perception about mangroves and sports participation.
-Long run (3-5 years): Mangrove conservation measured using remote sensing data.

Intervention Start Date

2022-06-01

Intervention End Date

2023-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Environmental knowledge, environmental attitudes, willingness to pay, environmental behaviors, school outcomes, aspirations.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

-Environmental knowledge: measured with a short assessment on knowledge about and importance of mangroves.
-Environmental attitudes: measured using questions eliciting levels of concern about global and local environmental issues.
-Environmental behaviors: measured using questions related to environmentally-linked behaviors during the week prior to the survey (i.e., trash disposal, electricity usage), including a list experiment regarding littering behaviors. We will also take photos of the nearest mangrove to the clubs and examine differences in mangrove stands (particularly trash presence) related to treatment.
-School outcomes: measured using respondent-reported attendance at school during the week prior to survey and preferences for particular school subjects related to natural science.
-Aspirations: measured using response to the questions: what would you like to be when you grow up, and what do you think you will be when you grow up?
-Willingness to pay: assessed at endline using a BDM mechanism to offer a good that is associated with mangrove conservation.
-Sports participation: measured using questions related to time devoted to sports, number of sports played, friend network within and outside of sports

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Long run (3-5 years) mangrove loss rates

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The participants of this study will be randomly assigned to either an educational session where they will receive information about mangroves, their importance, threats, and what they can do to protect them, or a control informative session regarding art. During the mangrove education session, they will participate in an environmental activity such as reforestation, coastal or mangrove cleaning, bioblitz (biological surveying of species to record all the living species within a designated area), etc. Additionally, the participants will receive sports equipment provided to their sports league. In order to measure spillovers to kids outside of the program and to family members, we will vary the intensity of the treatment across sports clubs. Treatment will be assigned as follows:

a. 20% of the sports club will be assigned to majority treatment groups where 75% of all their members receive the treatment.
b. 40% percent of the sports clubs will be assigned to mixed treatment groups where 50% of their members are assigned to the treatment group and 50% of their members will be assigned to the control group and will receive a placebo informative session.
c. 20% of groups will be assigned to pure control groups, where participants will receive a placebo during the intervention. After they complete the baseline survey, they will take a placebo informative session. Additionally, the participants will receive sports equipment provided to their sports league.

Spillovers will be measured by comparing the untreated children and adults in groups (a) and (b) to the pure control group (c).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization is done using Stata.

Randomization Unit

The randomization unit will be the sports clubs.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

50 sports clubs.

Sample size: planned number of observations

1500 youth participants and 1500 parents.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

-15 sports clubs will be assigned to pure control.
-20 sports clubs will be assigned to 50% treatment where half of the participants in those clubs will receive the placebo training (control) and half of the participants in those clubs will receive the treatment training.
-15 sports clubs will be assigned to 75% treatment.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB