Eliciting Perceived Norms About Substance Use

Mass General Brigham

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Tobacco Use; Alcohol Drinking

Treatments: Other: Survey questionnaire

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04833972

2013P000395_3

Details and patient eligibility

About

Survey experiment to elicit perceived norms about substance use

Full description

Health behaviors and health risk behaviors are known to be associated with the extent to which one perceives these behaviors as normative. The canonical example of this phenomenon is taken from the U.S. literature, which has robustly shown that undergraduate students on college campuses tend to drink more heavily and frequently if they believe their classmates drink heavily and frequently, irrespective of their classmates' actual levels and frequency of use. However, there remains little systematic understanding about the best ways to elicit these perceived norms through survey-based research studies. This randomized survey experiment compares different ways of eliciting perceived norms.

Enrollment: 1,553 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All adults who consider Nyakabare their primary place of residence and who are capable of providing consent

Exclusion criteria

• Minors younger than 18 years of age, with the exception of emancipated minors
• Persons who do not consider Nyakabare Parish their primary place of residence, e.g., persons who happen to be visiting Nyakabare at the time of the survey or who own a home in Nyakabare but spend most of their time outside the parish
• Persons with psychosis, neurological damage, acute intoxication, or other cognitive impairment (all of which are determined informally in the field by non-clinical research staff in consultation with a supervisor)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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1,553 participants in 3 patient groups

Experimental: V1: Binary Response Options

Experimental group

Description:

As this is a survey experiment, the "intervention" involves random assignment to a survey questionnaire with specific wording. Each question in this version of the survey questionnaire has binary (yes/no) response options.

Treatment:

Other: Survey questionnaire

Experimental: V2: Categorical Response Options

Experimental group

Description:

As this is a survey experiment, the "intervention" involves random assignment to a survey questionnaire with specific wording. Each question in this version of the survey questionnaire has categorical response options: all or almost all; more than half, but fewer than 90%; fewer than half, but more than 10%; very few, or no one

Treatment:

Other: Survey questionnaire

Experimental: V3: Open-Ended Numerical Estimate

Experimental group

Description:

As this is a survey experiment, the "intervention" involves random assignment to a survey questionnaire with specific wording. Each question in this version of the survey questionnaire permits the study participant to provide an open-ended numerical estimate.

Treatment:

Other: Survey questionnaire