Abstract:

As part of the project "Complexity and Intrinsic Motivation in Climate Protection" at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg, a field experiment should be conducted in which the complexity of information texts on climate protection intervention is varied. The information text of the question to be tested from the baseline condition should be subjected to a cognitive pretest before implementation in the online survey to check whether the information mentioned is comprehensible and the respondents are able to make a decision based on it.
The questions were tested by means of telephone cognitive interviews.

*Note: The items were tested in German. The items documented here are English translations of the original German wordings.*

Citation:

Hadler, P., Nießen, D., Lenzner, T., Steins, P., Quint, F., & Neuert, C. (2021): Project “Complexity and intrinsic motivation in climate protection” (English Version). Cognitive Pretest. GESIS Project Reports. Version: 1.0. GESIS - Pretestlab. Text.

DOI:

http://doi.org/10.17173/pretest112

Question No.	Pretesting Results	Type	Construct
1	You now have the opportunity to decommission an emission right that entitles you to emit one ton of CO2. The costs for the procurement and decommissioning of the emission right are borne by the client of the study. You can choose to decommission the emission right now or to receive 5 EUR instead. How do you decide? [Sie haben jetzt die Gelegenheit ein Emissionsrecht, das zum Ausstoß einer Tonne CO2 berechtigt, stillzulegen. Die Kosten für die Beschaffung und Stilllegung des Emissionsrechts trägt der Auftraggeber der Studie. Sie können wählen, ob Sie das Emissionsrecht jetzt stilllegen oder ob Sie stattdessen 5 EUR erhalten möchten. Wie entscheiden Sie sich?]	Single Question	Decommissioning an emission right: exclusive time dimension
2	You now have the opportunity to decommission an emission right that entitles you to emit one ton of CO2. The costs for the procurement and decommissioning of the emission right are borne by the client of the study. You can choose to decommission the emission right now or in one year's time, or you can choose to receive 5 EUR instead. How do you decide? [Sie haben jetzt die Gelegenheit ein Emissionsrecht, das zum Ausstoß einer Tonne CO2 berechtigt, stillzulegen. Die Kosten für die Beschaffung und Stilllegung des Emissionsrechts trägt der Auftraggeber der Studie. Sie können wählen, ob Sie das Emissionsrecht jetzt oder erst in einem Jahr stilllegen oder ob Sie stattdessen 5 EUR erhalten möchten. Wie entscheiden Sie sich?]	Single Question	Decommissioning an emission right: inclusive time dimension

Number of Participants:

Selection of Target Population/Quotas:

Quota sampling, adults aged 18 and over in Germany.
The pretest was conducted with six test persons, focusing on the elderly (over 60 years of age) and people with middle or lower education.

Test Date:

02/2021

Number of cognitive interviewers:

Pretests conducted via phone or externally (audio-recorded):

Survey mode:

CAWI

Pretest mode:

CATI

Procedure:

The cognitive interviews were conducted by telephone. The test persons were asked to have a computer with internet access ready for the interview. The link to the online questionnaire to be tested was sent to the test persons by e-mail at the beginning of the cognitive interview. The test persons first read the introduction page and the first version of the question (control treatment 1) and shared their answer with the cognitive interviewers. After answering the question, cognitive follow-up questions were asked (concurrent probing). Subsequently, the test persons answered the second version of the question (Control Treatment 2), followed by further cognitive follow-up questions. Finally, they were shown the introduction page again on which they received additional cognitive follow-up questions (retrospective probing).

Incentive for respondents:

15 Euro

Project Description:

As part of the project "Complexity and intrinsic motivation in climate protection" at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg, a field experiment should be conducted in which the complexity of information texts on climate protection intervention is varied. The information text of the question to be tested from the baseline condition should be subjected to a cognitive pretest before implementation in the online survey in order to check whether the information given is comprehensible and the respondents are able to make a decision based on it. If necessary, the information text will be revised on the basis of the results.

Client:

University of Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Perino

Pretest Report (English):

Interview protocol (German):

Citation: Hadler, P., Nießen, D., Lenzner, T., Steins, P., Quint, F., & Neuert, C. (2021): Project “Complexity and intrinsic motivation in climate protection” (English Version). Cognitive Pretest. GESIS Project Reports. Version: 1.0. GESIS - Pretestlab. Text.

Project “Complexity and intrinsic motivation in climate protection” (English Version) - Cognitive Pretest