Previous research by the Program of Applied Research on Climate Action and the Environment (PARCA) team has found that Canadians generally display poor understanding of the relative impacts of different pro-climate actions and have gaps in their understanding of climate change. Following up on these findings, a randomized controlled survey-experiment was conducted in December 2023 to test the impact of several behaviourally-informed interventions on climate literacy outcomes. Results suggested…
Behavioural Insights Projects
Discover projects applying behavioural science to policy from around the world. Add your own projects, whether completed or still ongoing, to contribute knowledge on BI applications across different countries, policy areas, and topics of interest.
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Legend: Projects status
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BI Project
Empirical testing of the impact on consumer choice resulting from differences in the composition of…
Differences in the composition of seemingly identical branded food products (DC-SIP) has been a source of growing concern in the EU in recent years. This was particularly the case after tests conducted in several Member States (MS) confirmed the presence of differences in composition of some branded food products sold across different Member States. This report aims to contribute to the existing studies by verifying whether the presence of DC-SIP influences consumer preferences and willingness…
BI Project
Effective position of call-to-action: Is the response rate higher if the call-to-action appears the…
How can response rates to questionnaires be increased? In the first quarter of 2023, some of the participants in a CBS survey received a letter in which the call-to-action appeared as far as possible at the top of the letter. The other participants received standard letters. The analyses showed that the standard letters produced a significantly higher response rate than the letters in which the call-to-action was placed at the top.
Why this experiment was conducted: high response rate is…
To promote college access and affordability, education tax credits help with the cost of college by reducing the amount of tax owed. The most generous Federal higher education tax credit, the American opportunity tax credit (AOTC), is a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. Yet, many eligible students (or their families) do not claim the credit. Among eligible students, national estimates indicate that 46 percent of independent students and 56 percent of dependent students take…
This study aims to:
1) Use a Discrete Choice Experiment (or DCE) to explore and estimate Canadians’ preferences for different attributes of a potential ZEV purchase or lease.
2) Use an online RCT to explore the impact of varying messengers (government vs. personal testimonial) and varying messages (about driving range vs. affordability) on individuals' intent to switch to a ZEV
3) Explore Canadians’ knowledge of ZEVs
4) Generate baseline evidence other elements of decarbonized transport not…
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 collecting data on emerging topics related to the promotion of climate action in Canada (e.g., transportation, energy use, waste management, etc.) using a large and nationally representative sample of Canadians.
The current project is the second wave of a repeated…
Home Energy Label
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…
The aim of the project was to reduce common errors that self-employed taxpayers make when
they complete certain sections of tax return form 1770, such as identifying their business category and declaring assets and liabilities. Taxpayers can make both intentional and unintentional errors. Our objective was to reduce unintentional errors associated with lack of knowledge.
Parents within the Child Support Program can apply for a Change of Assessment (CoA) when they experience a change in their circumstances that might affect their child support payments or entitlements. This is done by lodging an application with the Department of Human Services (DHS).
The aim of the study is to examine whether providing timely and salient information about the receipt and process of a claim improves process transparency and saves client time and effort by reducing the need for…