CASE STUDIES: APPLYING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TO
GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION
Think Think, Nudge Nudge: A Communicator’s Guide to Behavioural Insights
May 22, 2015
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A BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE
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Problem: Students are not applying for financial aid
Traditional perspective: – They don’t want to go to college– They can’t afford it– They don’t understand its value, etc.
Behavioural perspective: – FAFSA forms are too hard– They make families feel too “unsophisticated” to go
to college
EXAMPLE: FAFSA FORMS
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REACHING THESE INSIGHTS IS HARD
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• Identify common behavioural mistakes in program design
• Add behavioural enhancements
• Start with a problem• Map the steps where
there may be bottlenecks• Find the psychologies at
play
TWO APPROACHES
Audit Method Diagnosis & Design Method
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• Quick• Easy to learn• Solutions relatively easy
to implement
• Time consuming• Hard to learn• Generates deeper insights• Leads to more involved
solutions
TWO APPROACHES
Audit Method Diagnosis & Design Method
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AUDIT APPROACH
DERIVED FROM EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND IDEAS42 EXPERIENCE
Break down your program into components
Review each component using
a behavioural checklist
Try the solution in the checklist
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• Communications
• Process
• In-person Interaction
• Presentation of Choices
• Physical Environment
• Incentives
Workshop this afternoon on letter and email communications
AUDIT APPROACH PROGRAM COMPONENTS
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DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN APPROACH
DEFINE DIAGNOSE DESIGN TEST
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DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN APPROACH
Disentangling presumptions to arrive at a behavioural
problem
Studying the context and
identifying key bottlenecks
Creating and refining a workable solution
Testing our solution and
learning from the process
DEFINE DIAGNOSE DESIGN TESTACTIONABLE
BOTTLENECKSSCALABLE
INTERVENTIONDEFINEDPROBLEM
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DEFINE DIAGNOSE DESIGN TEST
REDEFINEPROBLEM
FIND ANOTHER BOTTLENECK
STATEDPROBLEM
DISENTANGLE PRESUMPTIONS
CAPACITY AND SCALABILITY
INTERVENTIONCONCEPT
CONTEXT RECONNAISSANCE
BEHAVIOURALMAP
HYPOTHESIZED BOTTLENECKS
POLISH INTERVENTION
DETERMINEFEASIBILITY
CLARIFYOUTCOMES
IDENTIFY SIDE EFFECTS
ROBUST EXPERIMENT
ideas42 partner sequential iterative as necessary
ACTIONABLE BOTTLENECKS
SCALABLEINTERVENTION
DEFINEDPROBLEM
end user
DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN APPROACH
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CASE STUDIES USING DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN
Resource Conservation in Costa Rica
Improving Healthcare in the United States
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CASE 1: RESOURCE CONSERVATION
Problem: People use more water than they need to in their homes.
Traditional Approaches: Increase the price of water Restrict the supply of water
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WHY DO PEOPLE OVERCONSUME?
Behavioural Insight 1: Despite acknowledging need for water conservation, few residents believed that they themselves needed to use less water.
Behavioural Insight 2: People weren’t able to estimate how much water they used individually.
Behavioural Insight 3: Despite an interest in saving water, many people didn’t know where to start with water conservation.
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BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS LEAD TO SOLUTIONS
5.6% Monthly water
consumption
Neighborhood comparison (sticker)
Datta, Saugato et al. (2015) A Behavioral Approach to Water Conservation : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Costa Rica. http://www.ideas42.org/publication/view/a-behavioral-approach-to-water-conservation-evidence-from-a-randomized-evaluation-in-costa-rica/
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BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS LEAD TO SOLUTIONS
5.5% Monthly
water consumption
Planning Prompts (postcard)
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WHY DID THIS WORK?
Social Comparison: Information on household use and how it compared to neighbors allowed them to:
• Understand their own water use• Develop a reference point
Goals and Actions: Giving households specific goals to aim for, as well as the pathways to achieve those goals:
Reduced the effort needed to plan Channeled action into the highest impact
actions
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POTENTIAL IMPACT
• 222,000 dishwasher loads
• 188,000 showers
If scaled across all households in Belen, this would mean conservation of 6,720 cubic meters of water each month:
• 94,080 washing machine loads
Allcott, Hunt. (2011) “Social Norms and Energy Conservation.” Journal of Public Economics 95(9-10): 1082–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.03.003.
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CASE 2: IMPROVING HEALTHCARE
Problem: People do not update their healthcare plan even when there are better options.
Traditional Approach: Provide more information about all available plans
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Behavioural Insight 1: Too many choices make the choice difficult and overwhelming.
Behavioural Insight 2: Options that are too similar make it difficult to differentiate.
Behavioural Insight 3: Options with complex, multi-dimensional attributes make comparison difficult.
WHY DO PEOPLE STICK WITH THE STATUS QUO?
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We all appreciate having choices…. …but, we often don’t enjoy the act of choosing.
Number of Options / Complexity of Options
Will
ingn
ess
to C
hoos
eNumber of OptionsAp
prec
iatio
n fo
r Cho
ice
Set
THE GREAT CHOICE PARADOX
22©2015 ideas42Kling, Jeffrey R., et al. (2008) “Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence from Medicare Drug Plans.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 127 No. 1: 199-235.
BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS LEAD TO SOLUTIONS
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WHY DID THIS WORK?
Reduced Choice Set: Presenting fewer options, which are already tailored to the individual:
Made comparing options more manageable Increased probability of satisfaction with
choice
Simplification of Information: Simplified information around each of the plans:
Made key differences salient Reduced the effort needed to understand
these differences
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POTENTIAL IMPACT
If scaled across the 37 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Part D, this would mean:
• 4,070,000 people would switch to a plan more suited for their individual situation
• $610,000,000 in savings annually
Kaiser Family Foundation. “The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Fact Sheet.” http://kff.org/medicare/fact-sheet/the-medicare-prescription-drug-benefit-fact-sheet/
