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Testing Contexts: Overview
Testing 'implementation strategies'
- 1.GWWC web site at point of email signup
- 2.Email lists
- immediate: subject headers w/ 'open rates' as dependent variable
- medium-term: all outcomes tied to email
Facebook; But the targeting algorithm may frustrate randomization. (see Real-world assignment & inference.) Can it be switched off?
This is helpful for ease of attribution if the important outcomes can be tracked by ZIP code/post code/address.
- Online display advertising
- Google search
- YouTube
- LinkedIn
- Facebook (presumably)
We can use some of the same strategies as above to test "rich content", i.e., short or even long talks, book chapters, podcasts, and so forth.
- Emails might be an opportunity
- Surveys with professional participants
- Surveys with undergraduates
Here generalizability may be a challenge, particularly extending inference from convenience samples to larger and more general populations. "Might be good to think of creative ways of doing that though, e.g., looking at which content creates the most extreme enthusiasm."
How many images to include on a page?
- How much text to include in a page?
- How many buttons?
- How many choice options?
The 'mysterious sauce' ... JS knows about (Video ads/Best-practice guidelines)... we don't always have a "theory" but it might be meaningful.
Question: If our aim is to change the culture of giving in general, what kind of people should we be targeting?
- 1.Influencers (People with lots of social influence)
- 2.Low-hanging fruit (i.e., people who are naturally predisposed towards effective giving, pledging, & EA)
Idea: Compare different outreach methods on the basis of "cost per pledge" (or per "whatever-metric-we-use"). (Outcomes: Outcome: Effective gift... & Outcome: Pledge... )
- ... donors to candidates sympathetic to a relevant cause area
- Internet activity ... those who watch/read/search for:
- Videos relevant to a cause area
- Reddit threads relevant to a cause area
- Magazines/news sites relevant to a cause area
- Search/visiting webpages about charity effectiveness/merit (e.g., Charity Navigator)👍
- Education
- Courses/degrees/majors relevant to a cause area
- (e.g., development econ/studies, animal behavior, AI)
- People at high-status institutions (future influencers/policymakers)
- Exploiting social network structure
- Targeting "influencers" and "central" people (on the basis of "number of followers" / friends / etc.)
- Key search terms (google 'effective giving' etc)
- Podcast listeners (philanthropy, economics, development & global health ...)