A field experiment examining lying aversion

Last registered on May 30, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

A field experiment examining lying aversion

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009512

Initial registration date

May 30, 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

May 30, 2022, 8:08 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Region

Europe

Primary Investigator

Name

Graeme Pearce

Affiliation

University of Exeter

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Michalis Drouvelis

PI Affiliation

Birmingham

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2022-05-30

End date

2023-05-30

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

Lying, dishonesty, field experiment

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

This field experiment is designed to examine 1) dishonesty in employment contracts, 2) how dishonesty and honesty can be influenced through subtle cues. This is done using a natural field experiment.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Drouvelis, Michalis and Graeme Pearce. 2022. "A field experiment examining lying aversion." AEA RCT Registry. May 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9512-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We are hiring 180 individuals to conduct a task. The task is to post an order form to a firm, along with £5 in cash, in order to obtain an item. The individuals we are hiring do not know that we, the researchers, own the firm they are sending the money to. The money is to be sent to a PO Box account, so that the owner of the firm is completely anonymous and unknown to the individuals.

The individuals are required to 1) report to us when they have sent the money, 2) report to us if they receive the item or not.

As we control the firm and PO BOx, we are able to observe if they lie or not.

Intervention Start Date

2022-05-30

Intervention End Date

2023-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Whether they report sending the money or not.

Whether they report receiving the item or not.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

I do not wish this to be public until it is over.

Experimental Design Details

There are two interventions, along with a control in which they are told nothing.

1. We tell subjects that, `We hypothesise that they will not receive the item.' This is a true statement - conditional on being told this statement, we do not believe that they will receive the item.

2. We tell subjects that, `We hypothesise that they will receive the item.' This is a true statement - conditional on being told this statement, we do believe that they will receive the item.

Randomization Method

Randomise subjects by die roll.

Randomization Unit

Individual level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Inidividuals, 180

Sample size: planned number of observations

180

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

~60 per treatment

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

We anticipate that around 10% of people will report truthfully in the Control, and 30% in treatment 1, and 0% in treatment 2. We have power of 80% to detect these effect sizes using a Fisher's exact test.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB