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DEUTSCH

Step-by-Step

"Nudges are any measures that decision architects can use to change people's behavior in predictable ways without eliminating any options or greatly altering economic incentives." (Thaler & Sunstein, 2009 p.15)

1. Consider a focused question for which you want to develop nudges, e.g.: How do you get people to eat healthy?

2. Explain the different characteristics of nudges:

  • A nudge is simple and inexpensive.
  • A nudge increases personal well-being.
  • A nudge does not limit a person's choices.

3. Now let your creativity run free and think together: What could be possible nudges, i.e. small "nudges" with which you can positively support the desired behavior? When designing the nudges, make sure that they meet all the criteria (simple and inexpensive to implement, do not influence decision-making options, and increase personal well-being) and pin the suggestions to a bulletin board or fill out the template provided. Examples of nudges include green footprints leading to the trash can or, to decline organ donation an extra form would need to be filled out.

4. The nudges are discussed in the group. All participants take a final vote on which nudges are considered most useful.

5. Test whether the selected nudges work in your project, change them if necessary or modify them until you feel that they motivate the (potential) project participants in the best possible way.

More about the tool

Advantages:

  • Nudges cost nothing to little, are easy to implement, and often have a big impact.
  • Nudges can simply encourage people to behave in a certain way without restricting their choices or putting pressure on them.
  • Generating nudges takes little time.

Disadvantages:

  • Different groups of people react differently to nudges. Therefore, no general, but only group-specific statements can be made about a certain type of nudges.
  • Nudges have to be tested again in every contextual situation, since there are few empirical values so far.
  • If the nudges are too subtle, they may not be noticed at all.

Which nudges motivate citizens to participate in a citizen science project in the field of health? How are these nudges perceived by the citizens? The "Science Marketing" sub-project of münster.land.leben has set itself the goal of answering these questions, among others. Within the framework of a student project, various nudges were designed with the aim of motivating citizens to participate in a citizen science project. For illustration purposes, the nudges used in the project are presented below.

The Recipe Nudge: "If you support the project team, you will receive a compiled recipe list that prioritizes healthy eating." A recipe collection has the potential to increase the personal wellness of the cook and is easy and inexpensive to create.

The peer nudge: "The majority of participants have found ways to live a healthy life without having to spend significantly more money on that lifestyle." This nudge uses the herd effect, which is based on the assumption that people are strongly influenced by the behavior of others and by the people who convey information to them.

The Knowledge Nudge "As a member of the project team, they will be able to increase their knowledge about healthy, balanced living." This stimulus takes advantage of people's inquisitiveness and accordingly aims to increase citizens' knowledge. The effectiveness of these nudges now had to be tested. For this purpose, two fictitious projects were developed. The citizens received an invitation to one of the projects. This invitation contained either a stimulus in the form of a nudge or an invitation without a nudge (control group). After receiving the invitation, the citizens were asked to indicate whether they would participate in the fictitious project and to justify their decision. It was found that the "prescription nudge" was the most effective (the willingness to participate was significantly higher than in the control group). This small study showed that a significantly higher number of participants could be recruited through the use of small, well-designed "nudges".

  • Try to collect as many different nudges as possible in order to have a good selection.
  • Different types of nudges can be combined. See which ones work best for your project.
  • Test different types of nudges to see which are most successful.
  • Make sure that the nudges are placed neither too subtly nor too conspicuously. Otherwise, they may not be perceived at all or they may be perceived as unserious.

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