In the last budget, the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES) released a document summarising the use of behavioural research in Irish government department. This followed a previous report they released summarising behavioural economics more generally (both of these documents are available here). Below gives a list of the different projects covered in the IGEES report, along with some relevant international examples in the given headings. The recent OECD report provides many more examples. The material below is intended to provide a source for discussion and reference in Ireland. Thanks to Sarah Breathnach for work on this. We are currently holding regular network events in Ireland to explore the potential of this research in the Irish context (see here for details and mailing list).
1. Irish Project:
Increasing Filings from Late Income Tax Returns. Department: Office
of the Revenue Commissioners
International Example: Unpaid
Car Tax, Behavioural Insights
Team UK.
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) worked with the DVLA to
test the efficacy of different messages upon individuals who fail to tax their
vehicles. The BIT tested the original DVLA letter against a new letter with
simpler, harder-hitting messages (such as ‘Pay Your Tax or Lose Your [Make of
Vehicle]’) and an image of the owners vehicle. It is thought that the image
would attract the attention of recipients and make the idea of losing their
vehicle more salient. This image also involes a strong element of
personalization, as drivers are shown an image of their own car. The results revealed that overall, sending letters to non-payers
of road tax with a picture of the offending vehicle on the letter increased
payment rates from 40 percent to 49 percent.
Service,
O et al,. (2014) Behavioural Insights TeamEAST: Four simple ways to apply
behavioural insights. Available from: http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIT-Publication-
EAST_FA_WEB.pdf
General Efforts to
increase tax compliance:
Example
US: Eliciting taxpayer preferences increases tax
compliance. Lamberton, De Neve and Norton (2014)
While tax aversion has many causes, we suggest that a
meaningful portion of that aversion can be understood — and addressed — by
considering two psychological characteristics of the tax process. First, tax
aversion is created by the decoupling of tax payments and the public goods
obtained in return. This disconnect places distance between payment and
benefit, and therefore decreases taxpayers’ perceptions of the tax-funded
benefits they receive. Second, taxpayer frustration also results from the lack
of agency or sense of influence over tax spending — which stands in sharp
contrast to one’s control over private spending — and may prompt some degree of
psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966). Academics and policymakers have begun to
address the first source of frustration, aiming to better inform citizens on
where tax money is being spent. To recouple payment and benefit, policymakers
now widely publicize information on the allocation of tax dollars across
expenditure categories (White House, 2011) and are introducing “Personal Tax
Statements” (UK Treasury, 2012). We propose that the annual tax filing process
offers an unexploited opportunity for governments to increase taxpayer
engagement and compliance. We explore this possibility in a set of experiments
that allow taxpayers to express non-binding (advisory) preferences regarding
the use of their tax dollars, assessing the effects of this taxpayer agency
treatment on tax compliance as well as satisfaction with tax payment and
attitudes towards taxation. We find that providing taxpayers with such
“taxpayer agency” — eliciting tax spending preferences — significantly
increases tax compliance (16%). Additionally, allowing taxpayers to signal
their preferences on the distribution of government spending results in a 15%
reduction in the stated take-up rate of a questionable tax loophole. We also observe that agency operates, in
part, by recoupling payment and benefit. Giving taxpayers a voice may act as a
two-way “nudge,” transforming tax payment from a passive experience to a
channel of communication between taxpayers and government.
Lamberton, C. P., De Neve, J. E., &
Norton, M. I. (2014). Eliciting taxpayer preferences increases tax
compliance. Available at SSRN 2365751.
Example
UK: Increasing tax compliance using social norms
and fairness. Hallsworth, List, Metcalfe, and Vlaev (2014).
Hallsworth et al.
(2014) look at the propensity of taxpayers to pay their outstanding taxes and
how norms and fairness messages affect payments. The Authors describe two large
scale field experiments in the UK conducted in 2011 and 2012 using a subject
pool of more than 100,000 individuals in each of the experiments. In the first
experiment, the authors test two fairness and three normative messages which
are added to the standard reminder letter for late payment of taxes. The
authors report the largest effect for a normative message (‘Nine out of ten
people in the UK pay their tax on time. You are currently in the very small
minority of people who have not paid us yet.’). People in this treatment group
were 5.1% more likely to make a payment towards their debts within 23 days
after receiving the reminder letter compared to the control group. The second
experiment is implemented the same way and tests for the psychological distance
of normative messages as well as the effect of descriptive and injunctive
norms. General descriptive norms were shown to have a larger effect compared to
general injunctive norms. The psychological distance or the normative messages
was varied by describing the behaviour of others in the same region (‘The great
majority of people in your local area pay their taxes on time.’) or in a
similar situation (‘Most people with a debt like yours have paid it by now.’).
More specific norms were shown to have a larger effect. The authors argue that
because including normative messages in the reminder letters is relatively
cheap, also small effects can be cost effective.
Hallsworth, M., List, J., Metcalfe, R.,
& Vlaev, I. (2014). The behavioralist as tax collector: Using
natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance (No. w20007).
National Bureau of Economic Research.
Example UK: Social norms on
tax debt payments. The HMRC Behaviour Change Team (2012).
The HMRC Behaviour Change Team are engaged in a series of
randomised controlled trials. The first of these tested the influence of social
norms on tax debt payments. 17 Letters were sent to 140,000 taxpayers, and took
four forms. The first was the standard letter with no mention of social norms
(the control group), the remaining three all contained the statement ‘9 out of
10 people pay their tax on time’ in the context of either Britain as a whole,
for the taxpayers’ postcode, or taxpayers’ home town. The interventions
appeared to be successful: 67.5 per cent made payments in the control group;
72.5 per cent for national social norms; 79 per cent for postcode social norms
and, finally, 83 per cent for home town social norms. It is estimated in the
report that the difference between the standard letter and the highest
performing home town social norm letter (15 per cent) could advance £160
million of tax debts to HMRC over a six-week period.
Cabinet
Office (2012). Applying behavioural insights to reduce fraud error and debt.
Example UK: The impact of
personalised text messaging on fine repayments, BIT (2012).
The Courts Service and the Behavioural Insights Team wanted
to test whether or not sending text messages to people who had failed to pay their
court fines would encourage them to pay prior to a bailiff being sent to their
homes. In the initial trial, individuals were randomly allocated to five
different groups. Some were sent no text message (control group), while others
(intervention groups) were sent either a standard reminder text or a more
personalised message (including the name of the recipient, the amount owed, or
both). The trial showed that text message prompts can be highly effective, 28.2%
of the standard text recipients paid the fine whereas 33% of the recipients of the
standard text with personalisation paid the fine.
Behavioural
Insights Team (2012). Test, Learn, Adapt. Available from https://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/management/documents/economics/Nudge%20Database%201.2.pdf
Example US: Taxpayer
response to an increased probability of audit. Slemrod, Blumenthal and Christian (2001).
Slemrod et al. (2001) describe one of the first field
experiments in tax compliance. The authors explore the effect of differences in
perceived audit rates by sending a letter to a group of taxpayers in Minnesota.
In 1995 a group of 1724 randomly selected Minnesota
taxpayers were informed by letter that the returns they were about to file
would be ‘closely examined’. Compared to a control group that did not receive
this letter, low and middle-income taxpayers in the treatment group on average
increased tax payments compared to the previous year, which was interpret as
indicating the presence of noncompliance. The effect was much stronger for
those with more opportunity to evade; in fact, the difference in differences is
not statistically significant for those who do not have self-employment or farm
income, and do not pay estimated tax. Surprisingly, however, the reported tax
liability of the high income treatment group fell sharply relative to the control group.
Slemrod J., Blumenthal M. and Christian C.
(2001): ‘Taxpayer response to an increased probability of audit: evidence from
a controlled experiment in Minnesota’, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 79,
No. 3, p. 455-483
Example Sweden: Tax compliance and loss aversion. Engström, Nordblom, Ohlsson and
Persson (2015).
Engström et al., (2015) find that in Sweden, taxpayers are more
aggressive about claiming deductions when they owe additional tax at the time
of filing than when they expect a refund - a phenomenon that is consistent with
the predictions of prospect theory. An obvious policy implication is that a tax
collection strategy that relies on over withholding followed by refunds at the
time of tax filing may increase tax compliance and total taxes paid. The
authors therefore argue the practical applications of prospect theory to tax compliance.
Interventions that recognize
individuals’ aversion to loss may be particularly useful in increasing tax
compliance.
Engström, P., Nordblom, K., Ohlsson, H.,
& Persson, A. (2015). Tax compliance and loss aversion. American
Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 7(4), 132-164.
Example
Austria: Tax
compliance within the context of gain and loss situations. Kirchler &
Maciejovsky, (2001)
This study on 60 self-employed
and 59 business entrepreneurs investigates self-reported tax evasion within the
context of taxpayers' previous expected tax payments at filing time (payment or
refund), their asset position (expected versus current asset position), and
their tax category (self-employed versus business entrepreneurs). It examines
whether different tax categories have an impact on the habitual decision-making
framework and hence influence the reference point employed in the decision
process. The results indicate that for the self-employed in the study an
unexpected surprise payment leads to low tax compliance, whereas an unexpected
surprise refund leads to high tax compliance. Thus, their self-reported tax
compliance can be best described by the current asset position. By contrast,
the reference point business entrepreneurs employ in making tax decisions can
be best described as dictated by their expected asset position. As a result,
expected payments are associated with low and expected refunds are associated
with high tax compliance on the part of these individuals. In addition, the
findings of the study showed that knowledge of the legal principles of Austrian
tax law is correlated with tax morality, and that women are less compliant than
men. Attitudes towards the tax system and the perceived justice of the system
are not correlated significantly with self-reported tax evasion.
Kirchler,
E., & Maciejovsky, B. (2001). Tax compliance within the context of gain
& loss situations, expected and current asset position, & profession. Journal of Economic Psychology. 22(2),
173–194
Example Estonia: Changing the
perception of taxes (behaviourally-informed initiative). Tax and Customs Board
(2011/ongoing).
According to Lillemets (2009), it is important to increase
public awareness of the need to pay taxes because this is a means of increasing
the public’s readiness to pay taxes voluntarily. Public research carried out in
2009 which covered attitudes of the population towards payment of taxes,
indicated that awareness of the services people receive from the state is
relatively low: 26% of respondents did not know what kind of services they
receive from the state, while around half of those (11%) said that they get
nothing from the state. The same survey also indicated that voluntary tax
payment could be increased by higher trust towards the state, increased
awareness of the use of tax income and good relationships between the state and
the citizen. In an effort to modify tax behaviours and shift the focus from paying
taxes as a burden to something which contributes to public good, the Estonian
Tax and Customs Board (Ministry of Finance) launched an information campaign to
raise awareness of how taxpayers’ money is being used by the state. The information campaign was implemented in two parts. The
first part of the campaign was conducted in nine Estonian cities during January
and February 2010. The main message used in the campaign was: “Unpaid taxes
will leave a mark. You like highways in order, ambulances, efficient work of
rescue workers and the police. So do we.” In addition, a thank you message was
attached to rescue cars and ambulance cars in Tallinn saying that these cars
had been bought with taxpayers’ money. The second part of the campaign was
conducted in eight cities across Estonia during October 2011 and used radio
commercials and outdoor ads. The messages were socially relevant and related to
the Estonian context. Overall, the campaign was regarded as successful in that
it was relatively well noticed and the average score was good compared to other
state and educational campaigns. Also the follow-up campaign was effective in
confirming the campaign message and making people think about why we pay taxes.
It also helped to create an understanding that paying taxes helps the state to
function and provide social guarantees to people.
Tax
and Customs Board (2011), ‘Information campaign “Unpaid taxes will leave a
mark” continues’. Available from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/case-studies/tackling-undeclared-work-in-europe/information-campaign-on-tax-compliance-estonia.
Example: Increasing
tax compliance through positive rewards. Brockmann, Genschel, &
Seelkopf, (2016)
Can
governments increase tax compliance by rewarding honest taxpayers? We conduct a
controlled laboratory experiment comparing tax compliance under a ‘deterrence’ baseline
to tax compliance under two ‘reward’ treatments: a ‘donation’ treatment giving
taxpayers a say in the spending purposes of their payments, and a ‘lucky’
treatment giving taxpayers the (highly unlikely) chance of winning a lottery.
The reward treatments significantly affect tax behavior but not in a straight
forward way. While female participants alter their behavior as expected and
comply somewhat more, men strongly react in the opposite way: They evade a much
higher percentage of taxes than under the baseline. Apparently, there is no
one-size fits-all approach to boost tax compliance
Brockmann,
H., Genschel, P., & Seelkopf, L. (2016). Happy taxation: increasing tax
compliance through positive rewards?. Journal of Public Policy,
1-26.
Example Denmark: Simplification
of the tax system & compliance. Danish Tax Authority
The Danish Tax Authority implemented an initiative to avoid
tax evasion among young citizens (often due to the perceived excessive
complexity of administrative procedures). This consisted of the creation of a
simplified platform for tax payment targeting youth, featuring a human-centred
design based on behavioural research. Changes increased the use of the tax
guidelines by 7% and tax revenues from the target group are expected to increase
by 20% compared to previous years.
Example Austria: Prepopulated tax
forms: Increasing compliance through simplification. Federal Ministry of
Finance (2014)
The
Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance offers citizens the FinanzOnline, -
"one-click link to the Austrian tax administration." This service
allows, for example, citizens to file their tax return electronically using a
pre-populated form. This is an example of a nudge to encourage individuals to
file their taxes electronically and comply with tax return. In other words,
this is achieved through the simplification of the tax return process (in line
with the need to decrease information overload) and the reduction of the effort
to comply. Moreover, the Ministry's website indicates that "96% rate the
Finance Ministry´s application, which has received multiple international
awards, as 'very good'" – an example of the use of social norms and
framing for the promotion of FinanzOnline as a secure and quality service.
There is also a mobile phone signature app, which saw a substantial increase in
users from 106,754 in 2013 to 176,721 in 2014. Other countries across Europe
including, Spain and France also use pre-populated fiscal and non-fiscal
declarations, while Italy and Hungary are in the process of becoming more
taxpayer friendly through the use of behaviorally inspired simplifications of
tax administrative procedures.
Federal
Ministry of Finance (2014). The Austrian
Tax and Customs Administration Annual Report 2014 Overview. Available from https://english.bmf.gv.at/services/publications/BMF-BR-Annual_Report_Tax_Customs_2014.pdf?5jcadl.
Meta-Analysis: A Meta-Analysis of
Tax Compliance Experiments. Blackwell (2007).
Blackwell conducts a meta-analysis of
twenty laboratory experiments, which were carried out between 1987 and 2006. Blackwell
attempts to synthesize this literature in a meta-analysis to draw conclusions
regarding the determinants of tax compliance. Specifically, the author examines
the impacts of traditional economic determinants of tax compliance: the tax
rate, the penalty rate, and the probability of audit. In addition, the author
examines the effect of a public good “return” to taxes paid. The author finds
strong evidence that increasing the penalty rate, the probability of audit and
the marginal per capita return to the public good lead to higher compliance,
but finds no statistically significant effect of the tax rate on compliance.
Blackwell
C. (2007): ‘A Meta-Analysis of Tax Compliance Experiments’, International
Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series at Andrew Young School of Policy
Studies, Georgia State University
Additional
Resources:
Weber, T. O., Fooken, J., & Herrmann,
B. (2014). Behavioural economics and taxation (No. 41).
Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
Madrian, B. C. (2014). Applying
insights from behavioral economics to policy design (No. w20318). National
Bureau of Economic Research.
The
British Psychological Society. Behaviour change: Tax & compliance (2016). Available from http://www.bps.org.uk/system/files/Public%20files/tax.pdf
Lourenço
J.S., Ciriolo E., Almeida S.R., & Troussard X. (2016). Behavioural Insights Applied to Policy European Report 2016.
Available from
Leicester,
A., Levell, P., & Rasul, I. (2012). Tax and benefit policy: insights from
behavioural economics. Institute for Fiscal studies, Commentary C125.
2. Irish Projects:
Increasing Responses to the SME Survey (2013) & PAYE Survey (2015)
Department:
Office of the Revenue Commissioners.
& Encouraging
Responses to the National Health Experience Survey.
Department of
Health
Example US: Different Domain Similar idea: The impact of
alternative incentive schemes on completion of health risk assessment surveys. Haisley et al., (2012).
Purpose: The
biggest challenge for corporate wellness initiatives is low rates of employee
participation. We test whether a behavioral economic approach to incentive
design (i.e., a lottery) is more effective than a direct economic payment of
equivalent monetary value (i.e., a grocery gift certificate) in encouraging
employees to complete health risk assessments (HRAs).
Design: Employees
were assigned to one of three arms. Assignment to a treatment arm versus the
non-treatment arm was determined by management. Assignment to an arm among
those eligible for treatment was randomized by office.
Patients: A total of 1299 employees across 14 offices
participated.
Intervention: All employees were eligible to receive $25 for
completing the HRA. Those in the lottery condition were assigned to teams of
four to eight people and, conditional on HRA completion, were entered into a
lottery with a prize of $100 (expected value, $25) and a bonus value of an
additional $25 if 80% of team members participated. Those in the grocery gift
certificate condition who completed an HRA received a $25 grocery gift
certificate. Those in the comparison condition received no additional
incentive.
Measures: HRA completion rates.
Results: HRA
completion rates were significantly higher among participations in the lottery
incentive condition (64%) than in both the grocery gift certificate condition
(44%) and the comparison condition (40%). Effects were larger for lower-income
employees, as indicated by a significant interaction between income and the
lottery incentive.
Conclusion: Lottery incentives that incorporate regret
aversion and social pressure can provide higher impact for the same amount of
money as simple economic incentives.
Haisley E, Volpp KG, Pellathy T, Loewenstein G.
(2012). Promoting Completion of Health
Risk Assessments with Lottery Incentives. American Journal of Health Promotion.
Example US: Total cost/response rate
trade-offs in mail survey research: Impact of follow-up mailings and monetary
incentives. Larson & Chow
(2003).
This article reports results of a mail survey
experiment in which several response-inducement methods were manipulated. The
experiment assesses the impact of follow-up mailings and monetary incentives on
total cost/response rate trade-offs. Experimental findings lead to a number of
recommendations for researchers and managers who conduct mail surveys. First, follow-up
mailings and monetary incentives should be used to maximize response rate.
Second, given a limited budget for survey administration, follow-up mailings
are preferred over monetary incentives. Third, if there is limited time for
survey administration, monetary incentives may be preferred over follow-up
mailings. Finally, follow-up mailings have the added benefit of enabling
nonresponse bias estimation.
Larson, P. D., & Chow, G. (2003). Total
cost/response rate trade-offs in mail survey research: impact of follow-up
mailings and monetary incentives. Industrial Marketing Management, 32(7),
533-537.
Example Norway: Improving response rate and quality of survey data with a scratch
lottery ticket incentive. Olsen, Abelsen & Olsen (2012)
Background:
The quality of data collected in survey research is
usually indicated by the response rate; the representativeness of the sample,
and; the rate of completed questions (item-response). In attempting to improve
a generally declining response rate in surveys considerable efforts are being
made through follow-up mailings and various types of incentives. This study
examines effects of including a scratch lottery ticket in the invitation letter
to a survey.
Method:
Questionnaires concerning oral health were mailed to
a random sample of 2,400 adults. A systematically selected half of the sample
(1,200 adults) received a questionnaire including a scratch lottery ticket. One
reminder without the incentive was sent.
Results:
The incentive increased the response rate and improved
representativeness by reaching more respondents with lower education.
Furthermore, it reduced item nonresponse. The initial incentive had no effect
on the propensity to respond after the reminder.
Conclusion:
When attempting to improve survey data, three issues
become important: response rate, representativeness, and item-response. This
study shows that including a scratch lottery ticket in the invitation letter
performs well on all the three.
Olsen, F., Abelsen, B., & Olsen, J. A.
(2012). Improving response rate and quality of survey data with a scratch
lottery ticket incentive. BMC medical research methodology, 12(1),
52.
Example: The Influence of Advance
Letters on Response in Telephone Surveys: A Meta-Analysis. De Leeuw et al. (2007).
Recently, the leading position of telephone
surveys as the major mode of data collection has been challenged. Telephone
surveys suffer from a growing nonresponse, partly due to the general
nonresponse trend for all surveys and partly due to changes in society and
technology influencing contactability and willingness to answer. One way to
counteract the increasing nonresponse is the use of an advance letter. In mail
and face-to-face surveys, advance letters have been proven effective. Based on
the proven effectiveness in face-to-face and mail surveys, survey handbooks
advise the use of advance letters in telephone surveys. This study reviews the
evidence for this advice and presents a quantitative summary of empirical
studies on the effectiveness of advance letters in raising the response rate
for telephone surveys. The major conclusion is that advance letters are also an
effective tool in telephone surveys, with an average increase in response rate
(RR1) from 58 percent (no letter) to 66 percent (advance letter), and an
average increase in cooperation rate (COOP1) from 64 percent (no letter) to 75
percent (advance letter). It seems advanced contact generally improves response rates and,
often just as importantly, in a cost effective manner.
De Leeuw, E., Callegaro, M., Hox, J.,
Korendijk, E., & Lensvelt-Mulders, G. (2007). The influence of advance
letters on response in telephone surveys a meta-analysis. Public
opinion quarterly, 71(3), 413-443.
Example:
The Role of Topic Interest in Survey Participation Decisions.
Groves, Presser, & Dipko (2004).
While a low survey response rate may indicate
that the risk of nonresponse error is high, we know little about when
nonresponse causes such error and when nonresponse is ignorable.
Leverage-salience theory of survey participation suggests that when the survey
topic is a factor in the decision to participate, noncooperation will cause
nonresponse error. We test three hypotheses derived from the theory: (1) those
faced with a survey request on a topic of interest to them cooperate at higher
rates than do those less interested in the topic; (2) this tendency for the
“interested” to cooperate more readily is diminished when monetary incentives
are offered; and (3) the impact of interest on cooperation has non-ignorability
implications for key statistics. The data come from a three-factor experiment
examining the impact on cooperation with surveys on (a) five different topics,
using (b) samples from five different populations that have known attributes
related to the topics, with (c) two different incentive conditions. The
findings suggest that emphasising the importance of a topic will encourage those
already interested in the research subject to take part. However, for those
uninterested placing too much emphasis on the topic importance may put them
off. Contacting a sampled individual or household in advance is an opportunity
to make a contact aware of the sponsor of the research as well as aware of the
importance, or salience, of the research. The findings suggest that survey
commissioners need to be careful in balancing the message put across on
advanced letters and in other contacts. Negatively affecting the participation
of those who are already unlikely to take part in research may increase non-response
bias.
Groves, R. M., Presser, S., & Dipko, S.
(2004). The role of topic interest in survey participation decisions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(1), 2-31.
Example
US: Improving response rates through better
design. Clarkberg & Einarson (2008).
In an effort to address declining response rates on our
campus, we considered the role of survey instrument design and how it can
contribute positively or negatively to the experience of completing a web-based
survey of student engagement. Existing research on survey design emphasizes
that potential respondents evaluate signals from the survey instrument itself
in deciding whether to respond. We focused on the following four
considerations: 1) Survey length. The perceived burden of responding to a
survey is tied directly to its overall length as well as the number of questions
that appear per web screen. 2). Survey content. Surveys enjoy higher response
rates when their contents are seen as relevant to the respondents’ own
experiences and values. To enhance the salience of our survey, we asked our
interview participants what they thought of the questions we had developed and
what they wanted to tell us in a survey. 3) Visual appeal. Research suggests
the visual design of a web-based survey affects response rates. Our study found
that visual design elements – such as the borders and spacing used in
questions, and the number of questions presented per page – elicited strong
reactions from our pretesters. 4) Delivery of survey results. Providing
respondents with survey results can help build rapport with respondents. In
this project, we incorporated instant results into the survey. In this way, we
immediately rewarded survey respondents with a handful of findings at key
points. Consistent with past research (e.g., Couper et al., 2001; Dillman,
2000), our study found that differences in survey length and visual design seem
to have accounted for significant differences in the proportion of students
responding to the original and revised versions of our survey, as well as
differences in the proportion of survey questions completed
Clarkberg, M., & Einarson, M. (2008).
Improving response rates through better design: Rethinking a web-based survey
instrument. New York:
Institutional Research and Planning, Cornell University. Available from:
https://www.dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000421.pdf
Example US: Using Norm-Based
Appeals to Increase Response Rates. Misra, Stokols & Marino (2013)
Background: In an earlier
experiment Misra, Stokols, & Marino (2012) found that participants who
received a descriptive normative prompt in the message requesting them to
complete an online survey were more likely to comply with the request compared
to participants who did not receive any normative prompts.
Purpose: Building on that
earlier study, the present field experiment compared the separate and additive
effects of descriptive and injunctive norm- based persuasive messages on
response rates of online surveys. We also investigate the influence of email reminders
on response rates.
Intervention: Participants in
an interdisciplinary conference were assigned to one of four groups. The three
experimental groups received one of the following messages asking them to
complete an online survey that highlighted: (1) a descriptive social norm
indicating typical response rates among attendees of prior similar conferences;
(2) an injunctive norm appealing them to join fellow participants in completing
the survey; or (3) both social norms. The control group received a generic
request to complete the online survey without any norm based appeals.
Findings: Participants
receiving a message highlighting the descriptive social norm when asked to
complete an online survey were more likely to comply with the request compared
to all the other groups. Additionally, one and two email reminders were found
to be effective in improving response rates of online surveys.
Misra, S., Stokols, D., & Marino, A. H.
(2013). Descriptive, but not Injunctive, Normative Appeals Increase Response
Rates In Web-based Surveys. Journal
of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 9(21),
1-10.
Additional Resources:
The
Scottish Government (2011). Methods in Survey Design to Improve Response Rates:
A Review of the Empirical Evidence. Available from: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/933/0098777.pdf
Improving
Participation in Research (2012). The social research newsletter from Ipsos
MORI Scotland. Available from:
3. Irish Project: Increasing
Attendance at Group Information Sessions. Department of Social Protection.
Example US: The Power of Prompts: Using
Behavioral Insights to Encourage People to Participate in Paycheck Plus
Demonstration meetings. OPRE Report (2015).
The
Paycheck Plus Demonstration is evaluating whether offering single New Yorkers a
generous earnings supplement on top of the existing earned income tax credit
improves their economic well-being and encourages employment. The report
presents findings from two behavioral interventions designed to increase the
number of participants who attended a meeting about the Paycheck Plus program.
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) team designed
two types of postcards: one meant to reflect a typical message that program
operators would have produced in the absence of a BIAS intervention (the “standard”
version), and one that incorporated concepts from behavioral economics,
including implementation prompting, loss aversion, and prominent deadlines (the
“behavioral” version). Additionally, half of the participants were sent text
messages. The study contained four research groups. Group 1 was sent only
behavioral postcards, and Group 2 was sent behavioral postcards and behavioral
text messages. Group 3 was sent only standard postcards, and Group 4 was sent
standard postcards and standard text messages. Behavioral messaging led to a 7
percentage point increase in meeting attendance (over a base of 18.5 percent),
compared with standard messaging. The strongest outcomes were found for the
group that was sent both behavioral postcards and behavioral text messages,
which improved response by 12 percentage points when compared with the lightest
touch, sending only standard postcards. Behavioral messaging led to a large,
statistically significant increase in the percentage of participants who
attended the meeting.
US
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. Available from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/bias_paycheck_plus_2015_acf_b508_2.pdf
Example US: Framing The
Message: Using Behavioral Economics to Engage TANF Recipients. OPRE Report
(2016)
In
late 2013, Los Angeles County began scheduling appointments with needy families
in receipt of temporary assistance who were formerly exempt from engaging with
the welfare-to-work program in order to bring them into the program and engage
them in activities. Despite extensive communication attempts only about half of
the participants who received a reengagement notice between September 2013 and
January 2014 attended the scheduled mandatory reengagement appointment. The
report presents findings from an intervention designed to increase the number
of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who “reengaged” in
the welfare-to-work program. Two different notices that employed behavioral
techniques were designed; one highlighted the losses participants might
experience by not attending the appointment and the other highlighted the
benefits they might gain by attending. Participants were randomly assigned to
one of three groups: (1) a program group that received the gain-framed notice;
(2) a program group that received the loss-framed notice; or (3) a control
group, which did not receive additional materials. The test found that receiving
an additional behavioral message increased the percentage of program group
members who engaged in the program within 30 days of their scheduled
appointment by a statistically significant 3.6 percentage points. This increase
was largely driven by the loss notice, which increased engagement at 30 days by
4.4 percentage points, while the gain notice, when compared with the control
condition, did not produce a statistically significant impact at 30 days.
US
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. Available from: http://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/Framing_the_Message_ES.pdf
Example US: Cutting Through Complexity:
Using Behavioral Science to Improve Indiana’s Child Care Subsidy Program. OPRE
Report (2016).
The
Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL) is the
lead agency responsible for administering the state’s Child Care and
Development Fund (CCDF), which provides child care subsidies to low-income
parents who are working or in school. As part of the program, parents are
required to verify their continued eligibility for child care subsidies at
least every six months by submitting required documentation. Data reported by
the OECOSL suggested that about 40 percent of parents missed their scheduled
appointment date, about a third who attended any appointment had to attend
multiple appointments to complete the process. As parents often struggle to
comply with this requirement, the OECOSL aimed to use behavioral insights to
encourage parents to attend their first scheduled appointment and to complete
the process in one visit. In order to achieve this, the appointment materials
were redesigned and a new reminder postcard was created. The redesigned
materials incorporated the behavioral elements of simplification,
personalization, loss aversion, and reminders. The findings of all
interventions are discussed.
US
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. Available from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/bias_indiana_execsummary_acf_508.pdf
Example UK: Reducing Missed Hospital Appointments.
Behavioural Insights Team (2015)
Missed hospital appointments are a major cause
of inefficiency worldwide. Healthcare providers are increasingly using Short
Message Service reminders to reduce ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA) rates. Systematic
reviews show that sending such reminders is effective, but there is no evidence
on whether their impact is affected by their content. Accordingly, we undertook
two randomised controlled trials that tested the impact of rephrasing
appointment reminders on DNA rates in the United Kingdom. Participants were
outpatients with a valid mobile telephone number and an outpatient appointment
between November 2013 and January 2014 (Trial One, 10,111 participants) or
March and May 2014 (Trial Two, 9,848 participants). Appointments were randomly
allocated to one of four reminder messages, which were issued five days in
advance. Message assignment was then compared against appointment outcomes
(appointment attendance, DNA, cancellation by patient). In Trial One, a message
including the cost of a missed appointment to the health system produced a DNA
rate of 8.4%, compared to 11.1% for the existing message. Trial Two replicated
this effect (DNA rate 8.2%), but also found that expressing the same concept in
general terms was significantly less effective (DNA rate 9.9%). Moving from the
existing reminder to the more effective costs message would result in 5,800
fewer missed appointments per year in the National Health Service Trust in
question, at no additional cost.
Hallsworth, M., Berry, D., Sanders, M., Sallis,
A., King, D., Vlaev, I., & Darzi, A. (2015). Stating Appointment Costs in
SMS Reminders Reduces Missed Hospital Appointments: Findings from Two
Randomised Controlled Trials. PloS
one, 10(9), e0137306.
Example UK: Addressing Missed Hospital Appointments. NHS Bedfordshire (2013)
Missed
appointments are a large source of inefficiency in the NHS: around 6 million
appointments are wasted each year, at an estimated cost of £700–800 million
(Martin et al. 2012). This initiative trialled a package of simple interventions,
based on behavioural science, to increase patient attendance in a primary care
setting. Reception staff at 2 primary care sites in NHS Bedfordshire were
trained to implement 3 interventions. They were given time to reflect on the
changes and ask any questions. Clinical staff were also briefed on the changes.
The package of 3 interventions successfully reduced the number of appointments
wasted by patients who did not attend (DNA) by 31.7% (124 appointments per
month in total across the 2 sites). The interventions included: on the
telephone, reception staff asking patients to repeat back verbally the day and
time of the appointment they are given before completing the call in the
primary care setting, providing patients with a card to write the details of
their appointment themselves rather than a receptionist, nurse or doctor doing
so replacing the poster highlighting the number of missed appointments with a
poster that showed the much larger number of patients who do turn up on time.
Reports 12 months after implementation show that a reduction in the DNA rate of
about 30% has been maintained.
Example Australia: Increasing Cervical Screening
Attendance with Behaviourally Informed Reminder Letters.
NSW
Pap Test Register by the Cancer Institute NSW send over 300,000 every year.
Less than 30% of women book an appointment within three months after receiving
their letter. The aim of the study was to trial whether different reminder
letters could increase the number of women who attend Pap tests, in order to
increase early detection and cancer survival. Four new 27-month reminder
letters were co-designed and trialled in an RCT against the existing letter.
The outcome measure was whether women attend a Pap test within 3 months of
being sent the letter. Letter 1 involved a gain framed message. Letter 2
involved a gain-framed message and an act now stamp and highlighted risks of not
screening. Letter 3 used gain-framing and included a case study of cancer
survivor. Finally, letter 4 used gain framing in combination with a commitment
device. The results indicated that over 12 months, the Commitment Device letter
could lead to an additional 7,500 Pap test appointments within three months of
the reminders being received (32.2% of women sent the Commitment Device letter
booked a Pap test within 3 months, compared to 29.7% in the control group).
Australian
Behavioural Insights Team (2015). Available from: http://bi.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/Behavioural-Insights/Library/Spotlight-on-Health-CoP-Event-Posterboards-December-2015/Increasing-Cervical-Screening-with-NSW-Pap-Test-Register-Reminder-Letters-December-2015.pdf
4. Irish Project: Tackling
Climate Change, Reducing Carbon Emissions. Department of Expenditure
and Reform
Example Netherlands: Reducing
traffic congestion through choice architecture.
In The
Netherlands, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment has implemented the
"Optimizing Use" project. In this context, national and regional
governments and businesses collaborated to improve road, waterway and railway
accessibility to reduce traffic congestion in the busiest regions. The project
comprised behavioural measures, such as increasing the number of bicycle
shelters at stations. This is an example of a measure addressing a barrier to
cycling (i.e. availability of sufficient secure cycle parking) through a change
to the choice architecture. This is in clear contrast with monetary incentives
to promote sustainable transport like granting "eco vouchers" for
buying green products, such as a bicycle or train tickets. A follow-up programme
is scheduled for 2017.
Platform Beter Benutten, “Beter Benutten: less congestion in 2014,
shorter journey times in 2017.” [Online]. Available from:
http://www.beterbenutten.nl/en.
Example Finland: Reducing
carbon emissions through simplification (2013).
In 2013,
SITRA and the Finish City of Jyväskylä launched the "Towards Resource
Wisdom" project, which aims at developing an operating model for regional
resource efficiency. In spring 2015, the model was piloted in Forssa,
Lappeenranta and Turku and, in June 2015, a network was created to support
Finnish cities in making their regional activities carbon neutral and waste
free. A set of indicators was also developed to measure progress towards these
goals. As part of the Resource Wisdom project, a series of pilots were
conducted, one such example is the "Bus Leap Project" aimed at
increasing the use of public transport and reducing carbon emissions and fuel
consumption. The project taps on behavioural levers such as simplification –
i.e. development of a route guidance system to assist residents with basic
logistic information – and is testing whether introducing staggered working
hours would have an effect on decreasing periods of high traffic.
“Resource
wisdom indicators,” Sitra, 2015. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.sitra.fi/en/artikkelit/resource- wisdom/resource-wisdom-indicators.
Example Spain: Can
Defaults Save the Climate? (2012)
A study
by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria used an RCT to test the effect
of defaults and framing in the context of a policy for mitigating CO2 emissions.
Results showed that framing influenced travellers’ willingness to pay €10 extra
for a flight ticket to mitigate their CO2 emissions. That is, 81% paid extra
when the question was framed as a rejection (i.e. tick in this box if you would
like to deduct the additional amount) vs. 62% when this was framed as an
addition (i.e. tick in this box if you would like to include the additional
amount). Note however that rejection was also the default option. The implications
are discussed.
J. E. Araña and C. J. León, “Can Defaults Save the Climate? Evidence
from a Field Experiment on Carbon Offsetting Programs,” Environ. Resour. Econ.,
vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 613–626, 2013.
Example US: Reducing energy
consumption using a social norms intervention (2011)
This
paper evaluates a large-scale pilot program run by a company called OPOWER, to
test the effects of mailing home energy use reports to residential utility
consumers. The reports include energy conservation information as well as
social comparisons between a household’s energy use and that of its neighbours.
Using data from a randomized natural field experiment of 80,000 treatment and
control households in Minnesota, it is estimated that the monthly program
reduces energy consumption by 1.9 to 2.0 percent relative to baseline. To prevent a "boomerang effect"
which might cause those better than the norm to regress, the Social Comparison
Module adds injunctive messages labelling low- and moderate-consumption
households as "Great" and "Good" and adds "smiley
face" emoticons.
Allcott,
H. (2011). "Social Norms and Energy Conservation." Journal of Public
Economics 95(9-10): 1082-1095
Example US: Encouraging
Sustainable Practices Beyond Here and Now: The Case of Programmable Thermostats
for Low-Income Tenants (2016).
Research
has shown that programmable thermostats can help families save on energy costs
while keeping homes at comfortable and healthy temperatures. By setting back
the temperature when the homes are not occupied or overnight, the occupants can
save and keep homes comfortable. 40% of the thermostats in use in America are
programmable. We designed a randomized controlled experiment to evaluate the
effect of two behavioral interventions in the willingness to keep using
thermostat schedules. The experiment had three experimental groups: G1-Control:
no intervention; G2-Ability: custom-program the thermostats according to
occupants’ schedules and comfort preferences, and leave a sticker to remind the
families to go-back to use schedules and keep home comfortable; G3-Motiviation:
In addition to G2-Ability, we obtained verbal and signed commitments to keep
the schedule during the heating season. We found energy savings for both groups
G2-Ability (2%) and G3-Motivation (1.5%). Based on these results we suggest
that the activity of programming the thermostats according to familial habits
and remind occupants to press run to use the schedules should be adopted as a
measure that is a part of a portfolio of energy efficiency offers designed to
help low income families to adopt new sustainable habits that can help them
adapt to scenarios of increasing energy prices and climate change.
Abreu, J. (2016). Encouraging
sustainable practices beyond here and now: The case of programmable thermostats
for low‐income
tenants. Presentation at the 2016 Behavior, Energy
& Climate Change Conference. October 20-22, 2016, Baltimore, MD.
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