Can social information change behaviour?The results of a study with student & national trust volunteers

Facilitator: Ben LeePresenters: Professor Oliver James and Dr Alice Moseley

Thanks also to Student Volunteering Units & Coordinators in the Universities of Bristol, Essex, Exeter, Plymouth, Salford, Southampton, Warwick, University College London, and Imperial College London

Social Information

..... How much should I volunteer?

Given what we know about why people volunteer....

What can researchers/ policy makers/ practitioners to do influence time given to volunteering?

... Try providing feedback or bringing social information to the fore, in the form of a nudge?

... Research on giving £ $ €

Three iterations of the same experiment

• Sample• 2 groups of students incorporating 12 universities

(1 iteration with 5 universities reported here, 2nd iteration too small to report as a standalone experiment)

• 1 wave of non-student volunteers in the National Trust

• Conducted Jan-March 2014 (students 1); Aug-Oct 2014 (Nat Trust); Jan-Mar 2015 (students 2)

National Trust Volunteers

•Mean age 63, mostly retired (76%)•Mean of 5 yrs at National Trust•Volunteering for an average of 7 hours a week•Paid work average of 2.6 hours per week

Student volunteers

•Mean age 25, mostly full time students (95%)•Mean of 2 yrs in the university•Volunteering for an average of 2.6 hours a week•Paid work average of 5 hours per week

Registered participants asked to keep a note of volunteering for next 4 weeks (reminder sent after 2 weeks)

At end of 4 weeks, all participants asked to log hours on website (time 1)

Those who logged hours randomised into 4 groups

Group 1 MEDIANSent infographic of own

contribution compared to median of all participants

Group 2 TOP 10%Sent infographic of own

contribution compared to median of top 10% participants

Group 3 TOP 20%Sent infographic of own

contribution compared to median of top 20% participants

Group 4 CONTROLSent infographic of own

contribution (no comparison provided)

Email containing infographic asked everyone to keep a note of volunteering for next 4 weeks

(reminder sent after 2 weeks)

At end of 4 weeks, participants asked to log hours on website

Group 1 MEDIANLogged hours (time 2) 2

Group 2 TOP 10%Logged hours (time 2)

Group 3 TOP 20%Logged hours (time 2)

Group 4 CONTROLLogged hours (time 2)2

Time to Start Keeping a Note for Your Time Counts!

Dear {fullname},

Thank you very much for registering for the Your Time Counts study and completing our survey; we really appreciate your participation.

The next thing we would like to ask you to do is to simply keep a record of the number of hours volunteering you do between today, Monday 4th August, and Sunday 31st August inclusive (i.e. a four week period). Please also make a note of the name of the organisation/s or project/s you volunteer with, where applicable. All volunteering should be included, including hours you do for National Trust or other causes.

On Monday 1st September we will be in touch to ask you to log this information on our specially created website, so please keep a careful note. You will not be able to log into the site until then, so it might help to make a note in your diary at the end of each week to keep track. We will send you a reminder along the way so you remember to keep recording.

Thanks for your help and happy volunteering!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email us on research@yourtimecounts.org.uk

Many thanks, The Your Time Counts TeamA collaboration between researchers at the Universities of Exeter, Southampton, Manchester & UCL, and National Trust

  Dear participant,

Thank you for your continued involvement in the Your Time Counts study.

We would now like to ask you to record your volunteering activity from the last four weeks, i.e. Monday 4 th Aug – Sunday 31st Aug inclusive, on the Your Time Counts website.

Even if you have done no volunteering over this time period, we would still kindly ask you to record this information which is very important to us.

Please record your activity as soon as possible - the deadline for doing so is midnight on Sunday 7 th Sept. It only takes a minute to do!

Please log in here: http://www.yourtimecounts.org.uk

Simply go to the ‘record activity’ page to record the amount and type of volunteering you’ve done.

Your input will really make this study a success.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to email us at research@yourtimecounts.org.uk

Many thanks for all your help, we really appreciate it!

The Your Time Counts Team

A collaboration between researchers and National Trust

It's time to record on the Your Time Counts Website!

Sample size 1st Student sample

(iteration 1)Charity sample

(iteration 2)2nd Student sample

(iteration 3)Total

Registered for study 581 183 160 924

Logged data 1st four week period

198 140 62 400

Logged data 2nd four week period

157 127 46 330

Analysis & what we expected to find....• We examined change in hours between 1st & 2nd four-week period,

following feedback• Compared each treatment group to the control group• Analysis for each group (NT & students) – subgroups:

below median, above median, all together• Descriptive statistics plus regressions• Expected social info to have positive effect on volunteering• Expected it to have more effect on those with lower than average

baseline volunteering levels

What did we find?

• Volunteering declined between 1st & 2nd four week period for everyone (34 hrs down to 30 hrs NT; 12 hrs down to 11 hrs students)

• Overall, there was no sig difference between the ‘treated’ groups and the control group in change of hours between 1st & 2nd four week period

• Therefore, social information didn’t increase volunteering• In fact, for one subgroup of students, it led to reductions in volunteering....

.. For students in the bottom half of the range of volunteering hrs in the 1st period (below median), all levels of social information led to reductions in hours relative to the control group

(3.57 hrs increase for control group compared to just 0.17 increase for median group, 0.65 increase for top 10% group & 0.24 decrease for top 20% group)

Feedback about one’s own volunteering (control group) without a comparison motivated people to do more – positive response

Feedback about one’s own volunteering (control group) with a comparison did not make much difference and de-motivated some people – neutral or negative response

summing up

Giving Time Giving Money

•Despite significant number of high quality experimental research showing the positive effect of social information on charitable giving of money, we find no such effect on giving time to charitable causes•One-off acts like monetary donations easier to influence via social information ‘nudges’•Giving time a different sort of activity, requires interaction & sustained effort•A simple numerical benchmark comparing self to others is not enough to influence

Your reactions…Why do you think the social information treatments didn’t work in a positive way?

What might help explain the finding that students with below average levels of volunteering were demotivated by receiving feedback about their own volunteering hours compared to others?

What might have driven up their volunteering hours?

Should we expect older and younger volunteers to react differently to this sort of feedback information? Or students and non-students?

small group work

Group C: If you were to design any sort of intervention to recruit new volunteers, what would you do?

Group A: If you were to design an intervention to encourage existing volunteers to do more, using a similar online platform where people could record hours and get feedback about their volunteering, what would you do?

Group B: If you were to design any sort of intervention to increase volunteering amongst existing volunteers, what would you do?

discussionWhat have you tried doing in your organisation to get more volunteers? What seems to work best in your experience?

What are the major challenges you face with respect to getting more volunteers or the right sort of volunteer?

reflections on the session

What have we learned about why results may have been as they were?

What have we learned about challenges facing organisations relying on volunteers?

What new ideas have been generated about things that could be done to increase volunteering?