CASE STUDIES: APPLYING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TO GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION

1. CASE STUDIES: APPLYING
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TO
GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION
Think Think, Nudge Nudge:
A Communicator’s Guide to Behavioural Insights
May 22, 2015

2. ©2015 ideas42 2
A BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE

3. ©2015 ideas42 3
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

4. ©2015 ideas42 4
REACHING THESE INSIGHTS IS HARD

5. ©2015 ideas42 5
• 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

6. ©2015 ideas42 6
• 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

7. ©2015 ideas42 7
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

8. ©2015 ideas42 8
• Communications
• Process
• In-person Interaction
• Presentation of Choices
• Physical Environment
• Incentives
Workshop this afternoon on letter and
email communications
AUDIT APPROACH PROGRAM COMPONENTS

9. ©2015 ideas42 9
DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN APPROACH
DEFINE DIAGNOSE DESIGN TEST

10. ©2015 ideas42 10
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 TEST
ACTIONABLE
BOTTLENECKS
SCALABLE
INTERVENTION
DEFINED
PROBLEM

11. ©2015 ideas42 11
DEFINE DIAGNOSE DESIGN TEST
REDEFINE
PROBLEM
FIND ANOTHER
BOTTLENECK
STATED
PROBLEM
DISENTANGLE
PRESUMPTIONS
CAPACITY AND
SCALABILITY
INTERVENTION
CONCEPT
CONTEXT
RECONNAISSANCE
BEHAVIOURAL
MAP
HYPOTHESIZED
BOTTLENECKS
POLISH
INTERVENTION
DETERMINE
FEASIBILITY
CLARIFY
OUTCOMES
IDENTIFY
SIDE EFFECTS
ROBUST
EXPERIMENT
ideas42 partner sequential iterative as necessary
ACTIONABLE
BOTTLENECKS
SCALABLE
INTERVENTION
DEFINED
PROBLEM
end user
DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN APPROACH

12. ©2015 ideas42 12
CASE STUDIES USING DIAGNOSE AND DESIGN
Resource Conservation in Costa Rica
Improving Healthcare in the United States

13. ©2015 ideas42 13
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

14. ©2015 ideas42 14
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.

15. ©2015 ideas42 15
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/

16. ©2015 ideas42 16
BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS LEAD TO SOLUTIONS
5.5% 
Monthly water
consumption
Planning Prompts (postcard)

17. ©2015 ideas42 17
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

18. ©2015 ideas42 18
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.

19. ©2015 ideas42 19
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

20. ©2015 ideas42 20
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?

21. ©2015 ideas42 21
We all appreciate having choices…. …but, we often don’t enjoy the act
of choosing.
Number of Options / Complexity
of Options
WillingnesstoChoose
Number of Options
AppreciationforChoiceSet
THE GREAT CHOICE PARADOX

22. ©2015 ideas42 22
Kling, 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

23. ©2015 ideas42 23
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

24. ©2015 ideas42 24
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/

25. ©2015 ideas42 25
Dana Guichon, Senior Associate
dana@ideas42.org