Prolific.ac—A subject pool for online experiments

No health without mental health.

Online labor markets provide new opportunities for behavioral research, but conducting economic experiments online raises important methodological challenges. This particularly holds for interactive designs. In this paper, we provide a methodological discussion of the similarities and differences between interactive experiments conducted in the laboratory and online. To this end, we conduct a repeated public goods experiment with and without punishment using samples from the laboratory and the online platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. We chose to replicate this experiment because it is long and logistically complex. It therefore provides a good case study for discussing the methodological and practical challenges of online interactive experimentation. We find that basic behavioral patterns of cooperation and punishment in the laboratory are replicable online. The most important challenge of online interactive experiments is participant dropout. We discuss measures for reducing dropout and show that, for our case study, dropouts are exogenous to the experiment. We conclude that data quality for interactive experiments via the Internet is adequate and reliable, making online interactive experimentation a potentially valuable complement to laboratory studies.

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Conducting interactive experiments online

A key question in the literature on motivated reasoning and self-deception is how motivated beliefs are sustained in the presence of feedback. In this paper, we explore dynamic motivated belief patterns after feedback. We establish that positive feedback has a persistent effect on beliefs. Negative feedback, instead, influences beliefs in the short-run, but this effect fades over time. We investigate the mechanisms of this dynamic pattern, and provide evidence for an asymmetry in the recall of feedback. Finally, we establish that, in line with theoretical accounts, incentives for belief accuracy mitigate the role of motivated reasoning.

/pdf/the-dynamics-of-motivated-beliefs-4idrrhvq9z.pdf

The Dynamics of Motivated Beliefs

We conduct an artefactual field experiment using a diversified sample of passengers of public transportations to study attitudes towards dishonesty. We find that the diversity of behavior in terms of dis/honesty in laboratory tasks and in the field correlate. Moreover, individuals who have just been fined in the field behave more honestly in the lab than the other fare-dodgers, except when context is introduced. Overall, we show that simple tests of dishonesty in the lab can predict moral firmness in life, although frauders who care about social image cheat less when behavior can be verified ex post by the experimenter.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/141461/1/dp9702.pdf

Cheating in the Lab Predicts Fraud in the Field: An experiment in public transportations

hroot: Hamburg Registration and Organization Online Tool☆

Hamburg registration and organization online tool

Mobile health (mHealth) could be widely used in the population to improve access to psychological treatment. In this paper, we describe the development of a mHealth intervention on the basis of supportive self-monitoring and describe the protocol for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness among smartphone users with psychological distress. Based on power analysis, a representative quota sample of N=186 smartphone users will be recruited, with an over-sampling of persons with moderate to high distress. Over a 4-week period, the intervention will be compared to a self-monitoring without intervention group and a passive control group. Telephone interviews will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 12-week follow-up to assess study outcomes. The primary outcome will be improvement of mental health. Secondary outcomes will include well-being, intentions towards help-seeking and help-seeking behavior, user activation, attitudes towards mental health services, perceived stigmatization, smartphone app quality, user satisfaction, engagement, and adherence with the intervention. Additionally, data from the user’s daily life as collected during self-monitoring will be used to investigate risk and protective factors of mental health in real-world settings. Therefore, this study will allow us to demonstrate the effectiveness of a smartphone application as a widely accessible and low-cost intervention to improve mental health on a population level. It also allows to identify new assessment approaches in the field of psychiatric epidemiology.

Supportive Mental Health Self-Monitoring among Smartphone Users with Psychological Distress: Protocol for a Fully Mobile Randomized Controlled Trial

Kommentar zu Anna Schnauber und Gregor Daschmann: "States oder Traits? Was beeinflusst die Teilnahmebereitschaft an telefonischen Interviews" (MDA 2008, 2: 97–123)

We report experimental findings on distribution decisions by Germans and Egyptians. We explore their sensitivity along three different dimensions: we study (i) the impact of the price of giving, (ii) how giving responds to the cultural and gender identity of the recipient, and (iii) how a threat of rejection in a bargaining situation affects the distribution choice. We show substantial differences in generosity between participants in Egypt vs. Germany, the former showing substantial equality-seeking behavior. Correspondingly, both genders in Egypt increase giving when it becomes more costly as do German females, in contrast to German males who give particularly when it is cheap. While Egyptian participants choose according to an equality norm independently of the recipient’s identity, we detect substantial discrimination by German females when giving to Egyptian males. This discrimination is in line with prejudice as males in Egypt give significantly more than what Germans expect from them. Conversely, males in Egypt overestimate the generosity of Germans towards them. We finally show that, relative to giving in the dictator game, the ultimatum game offers increase among German participants, but not among participants in Egypt. Females in Egypt even decrease giving in UG relative to DG when allocating to males in Egypt. This finding is in line with highly favorable offers being rejected by a substantial fraction of participants in Egypt. 

Olaf Bock

Papers

hroot: Hamburg Registration and Organization Online Tool☆

Hamburg registration and organization online tool

Supportive Mental Health Self-Monitoring among Smartphone Users with Psychological Distress: Protocol for a Fully Mobile Randomized Controlled Trial

Kommentar zu Anna Schnauber und Gregor Daschmann: "States oder Traits? Was beeinflusst die Teilnahmebereitschaft an telefonischen Interviews" (MDA 2008, 2: 97–123)

Sharing norms and negotiations across cultures: Experimental interactions within and between Egypt and Germany