Policy Research

Invitation Phone Calls Increase Attendance at Civic Meetings: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Scott Hock, Sarah Anderson, Matthew Potoski

Summary

Residents of Ames, Iowa were randomly selected to receive personal phone call invitations to an upcoming civic meeting. All residents, whether in the treatment or control group, received written notices of the meeting. Additionally, a group of residents were randomly assigned to receive a postcard, in addition to the written notice. The results argue that receiving a phone call made residents twice as likely to attend the meeting, while receiving a post card had no effect. Though p-values are all statistically insignificant, the authors argue that, taken in an experimental setting, the results are still compelling.

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Policy Implications

Many local policies are discussed in a civic meeting setting. Any effort to expand attendance could have dramatic impacts on local laws. The authors argue these results may be extrapolated to voter turnout