Replication Data for: Participation improves collective decisions (when it involves deliberation): Experimental evidence from Kenya

Citizen participation in decision-making has been widely lauded as a method for improving societal outcomes. Deliberative discussion, in particular, is believed to be more transformative than a mere aggregation of individual preferences, leading to more socially optimal decision making and behavior. I report the results from a laboratory experiment with 570 subjects in Nairobi, directly testing the effect of participation in deliberative group decision-making on collective outcomes. Participants engage in a group task to earn compensation toward a shared group fund. Randomly assigned treatments vary according to whether decision-making over the task to be completed involves (1) external assignment, (2) non-deliberative majority voting, or (3) consensus through deliberative discussion. I find that deliberation improves collective decision making. Deliberation is also associated with changes in preferences, greater agreement with decision outcomes, and greater perceived fairness. Evidence for behavior change is weaker, but there is some support for further research into the relationship between preference change and behavior change.

公民参与决策作为改善社会治理成效的重要手段，已获得广泛赞誉。其中，审议式讨论（deliberative discussion）相较于单纯的个体偏好加总，更具变革性，能够催生更具社会最优性的决策与行为模式。本研究报告了在内罗毕（Nairobi）开展的、涵盖570名受试者的实验室实验结果，该实验直接检验了参与审议式群体决策对集体结果的影响。受试者需参与一项群体任务，以赚取可汇入共享群体基金的报酬。实验采用随机分组设计，依据任务决策方式的差异设置三类实验处理：(1) 外部指派式决策；(2) 非审议式多数投票；(3) 经由审议式讨论达成共识。研究结果表明，审议式讨论能够有效优化集体决策。此外，审议式讨论还与个体偏好转变、对决策结果的更高认可度以及更强的感知公平性显著相关。不过，关于行为改变的实证证据相对有限，但仍为后续探究偏好转变与行为改变之间的关联提供了一定的研究支撑。