Table 3: Between subject treatment groups. Treatment group Incentive applied (in Round 2 only) Control None Low power $0.05 paid per word High $1 paid per word High power threshold $23 paid if complete 23 words; $1 paid per word above this amount Charity 2 words plants one indigenous tree within Victoria (equiva- lent to $1 per word) participants received AUD$0.05 for each 5 letter completed during “word” the 5 minute time limit of round 2. The high power treatment group received AUD$1 per word in round 2. Those participants in the high power threshold treatment received AUD$23 if they completed 23 words; below 23 words they received nothing, but for each word completed above 23 they received AUD$1. Finally, participants in the charity treatment were told 2 words you “every complete will fund the planting of one indigenous tree in Victoria. A local environmental charity will receive the funds to plant these trees after the experiment.” The charity to which the funds were given, Tree Project, quotes on their website that every AUD$2 donated leads to one tree being planted. Thus, while participants were not told the monetary amount of their donation until the end of the experiment, it is equivalent to AUD$1 per word completed. The difference from the high power treatment is that donations were done in $2 increments. To ensure credibility of donations, participants were also told before round 2 started that a session-level donation receipt would be emailed to them to prove the donation had been made, which would include the average number of trees planted per person. Time preferences task The time preferences task consisted of 18 questions as shown in Table . The nine questions were repeated for today versus 5 weeks, and 5 weeks versus 10 weeks. This design means we can determine whether the participant is present or future bias, along with giving us a measure of how impatient the participants are. It was explained at the start of the task that one question would be randomly selected to be paid out. The payments for this task were made using a WISH gift card, which can be used at one of the common supermarket chains, a major department store chain and a range of other chain stores. The gift card was chosen as it can be used at a large number of stores where people commonly shop, and can be sent via the post. It does not have the transaction costs of going to a bank to deposit a cheque. accessed 23 August, 2016. 2
Table 3: Between subject treatment groups. Treatment group Incentive applied (in Round 2 only) Control None Low power $0.05 paid per word High $1 paid per word High power threshold $23 paid if complete 23 words; $1 paid per word above this amount Charity 2 words plants one indigenous tree within Victoria (equiva- lent to $1 per word) participants received AUD$0.05 for each 5 letter “word” completed during the 5 minute time limit of round 2. The high power treatment group received AUD$1 per word in round 2. Those participants in the high power threshold treatment received AUD$23 if they completed 23 words; below 23 words they received nothing, but for each word completed above 23 they received AUD$1. Finally, participants in the charity treatment were told “every 2 words you complete will fund the planting of one indigenous tree in Victoria. A local environmental charity will receive the funds to plant these trees after the experiment.” The charity to which the funds were given, Tree Project, quotes on their website that every AUD$2 donated leads to one tree being planted. Thus, while participants were not told the monetary amount of their donation until the end of the experiment, it is equivalent to AUD$1 per word completed. The difference from the high power treatment is that donations were done in $2 increments. To ensure credibility of donations, participants were also told before round 2 started that a session-level donation receipt would be emailed to them to prove the donation had been made, which would include the average number of trees planted per person. Time preferences task The time preferences task consisted of 18 questions as shown in Table . The nine questions were repeated for today versus 5 weeks, and 5 weeks versus 10 weeks. This design means we can determine whether the participant is present or future bias, along with giving us a measure of how impatient the participants are. It was explained at the start of the task that one question would be randomly selected to be paid out. The payments for this task were made using a WISH gift card, which can be used at one of the common supermarket chains, a major department store chain and a range of other chain stores. The gift card was chosen as it can be used at a large number of stores where people commonly shop, and can be sent via the post. It does not have the transaction costs of going to a bank to deposit a cheque. 2 accessed 23 August, 2016.
Intrinsic-motivation-SUBMISSION-PHD-CONF.docx