A group of interviewers buttonholes random people at a busy metropolitan intersection and asks them to take part in a study. People are informed that they will be read a 30-second appeal, at which point they will have the opportunity to donate $1 to the cause discussed in the appeal.
Some people hear the following:
bq. Many lakes and rivers in America are endangered by the administration’s proposed rollback of parts of the Clean Water Act. According to the EPA, 218 million people still live within 10 miles of waters that are damaged by pollution. A bi-partisan coalition in Congress has proposed legislation to stop this rollback. Clean Water Action, a national citizens’ group, is lobbying Congress to pass this bill. But they need your help. With the 2006 elections just around the corner, now is the time to take action. [Will you make a $1 donation to support Clean Water Action?] I can make change if you only have big bills and we will give this Save-the-Earth bracelet to anyone who wants to make a donation.
In this group, 49% made the donation.
Others heard this:
bq. I grew up in [insert interviewer’s home state] near a lake where I frequently played with my siblings and learned to swim and canoe. I have seen this lake, and many other lakes and rivers in America, become endangered by the administration’s proposed rollback of parts of the Clean Water Act. According to the EPA, 218 million people still live within 10 miles of waters that are damaged by pollution. A bi-partisan coalition in Congress has proposed legislation to stop this rollback. Clean Water Action, a national citizens’ group, is lobbying Congress to pass this bill. But they need your help. With the 2006 elections just around the corner, now is the time to take action. Will you make a $1 donation to support Clean Water Action’s efforts to protect lakes and rivers like the one I grew up around? I can make change if you only have big bills and we will give this Save-the-Earth bracelet to anyone who wants to make a donation.
In this group, a much larger fraction, 68%, gave $1.
The study is by Hahrie Hahn. She writes by way of explaining the finding:
bq. The successful appeal was one that built on targets’ social and relational motivations. By revealing something personal about the canvasser, the disclosure condition was designed to cue heuristics that would cause the target to treat the canvasser more like a friend or acquaintance, and thus be more likely to comply with the request.
I also liked this line about the political participation literature:
bq. As a result, we are left with a good understanding of the factors that enable participation, rather than the factors that motivate it.
The paper is here (gated).