Behavioural Insights Projects

In an effort to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates, mobile vaccination units were rolled out in late 2021. This strategy proved successful: the number of vaccinations administered was between 1.1 and 14.5 times higher in neighbourhoods on the days they were visited by mobile units. The units were more effective in rural areas than in urban settings. In addition, they proved to be more effective than average in neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of SGP voters and still effective, although to a…

In keeping with current thinking on violence prevention, the Violence Prevention Initiative @Schools (VPI@Schools) project focuses on strengthening protective factors for those learners most at risk of being victims of violence and reducing risk factors for those learners most at risk of perpetrating violence. Using a behaviourally informed project, the direct aim of the VPI@Schools project is to help learners develop alternative, positive automatic responses and change their beliefs and norms…

Institution: Western Cape Government (WCG)

Team: BI4Gov

To support federal response efforts, Impact Canada is leading the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Behavioural Insights (BI) Tool on COVID-19 in the Canadian context. This work is being led in collaboration with the Public Opinion Research Team within the Privy Council Office’s (PCO) Communications and Consultation Secretariat, which supports the Prime Minister’s Office in coordinating government communications in accordance with key priorities. Insights garnered will…

Institution: Privy Council Office

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

The Ministry of Justice and Security developed a behavioural intervention aimed at inspiring individuals to adopt safe cyber practices: 'Valse email? Meld het via de meldknop' (Fake email? Report it using the report button). Thanks to this behavioural intervention, employees are ten times more likely to report suspicious emails internally. Moreover, click rates on links in suspicious emails have significantly decreased. Why this experiment was conducted: One in five SMEs have been victims of…

Institution: Netherlands Ministry of Justice and Security

Challenge At San Francisco State University, 18% of students drop out by the end of their first year, mostly for reasons unrelated to their academic achievements. The goal was to increase the number of first-year college students returning for their second year. Design To help first-year students understand that the challenges they faced were neither unique to them nor evidence of personal failure, all incoming first-year students at SF State were asked to watch a three-minute video in which…

Institution: Ideas42

Team: Ideas42

Hospital-care-associated infections (HCAIs) represent the most frequent adverse event during care delivery, affecting hundreds of millions of patients around the world. Implementing and ensuring conformity to standard precautions, particularly best hand hygiene practices, is regarded as one of the most important and cheapest strategies for preventing HCAIs. The behavioural sciences have documented the potential of adjusting seemingly irrelevant contextual features in order to ‘nudge’ people…

Institution: Other

In partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU) has launched a multi-year program of research on climate change. The Program of Applied Research on Climate Action in Canada (PARCA Canada) combines behavioural science (BeSci) insights and methods with robust policy analysis to promote climate action. One of the main areas of focus involves the launch of a longitudinal survey that will, over time, collect…

Institution: Privy Council Office

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

PROJECT SUMMARY Text messages were delivered to parents of children from 3 to 5 years old enrolled in public preschools in Uruguay using a government mobile app. These messages targeted malleable factors producing students’ absences and sought to influence parent’s attitudes and beliefs about preschool attendance to increase children’s presence in the classroom. IMPACT Children in remote areas increased attendance by 1.5 days, suggesting an increase in cognitive development of 0.20 SD.…

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Team: IDB Behavioral Economics Group

Methods Two preregistered randomized controlled trials (N = 253 and N = 674) measured consumption in a lab and the home environment. Cues were salient, labeled stripes that demarcated single portions. Participants were randomized to cue condition or control. Consumption was measured without awareness. Results The main preregistered effect of the visual cue was not statistically significant. There was some variation by subgroup. In Study 1, men were more likely to eat the whole can of potato…

Institution: Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Team: ESRI Behavioural Research Unit

Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR; formerly known as Climate Action Incentive Payment) is a tax-free, quarterly payment paid to Canadians by the federal government in eligible provinces to offset the costs of federal pollution pricing. According to recent results from the Program of Applied Research on Climate Action (PARCA), eligible Canadians have low awareness of CCR and think that carbon price costs them more than they receive in CCR payment. In fact, support for carbon pricing has been declining…

Institution: Impact and Innovation Hub (IIU)- Impact Canada

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)