Questionnaire

By completing this questionnaire you can participate in the drawing lots of minimum 2,000 DKK (about 300$). The answers will be used in a paper, which will be prepared by a graduate student of Economics, Ulrik Dahl at Department of Economics, University of Aarhus, Denmark. The questions F-K will be used to create a picture of you, and questions 1-12 will be used to test some economic theories. All answers will be treated confidentially and anonymously, and your name and address is only used if you win one of the prizes.

Further details about the prizes are at the bottom of this page.

Thank you in anticipation for your help.

When you have finished answering the questions, please press the "SUBMIT FORM"-botton.

Please answer the following questions:

A) Name (optional - is only used in connection with the competition)

B) Address (optional - is only used in connection with the competition)

C) Postal code (optional - is only used in connection with the competition)

D) City (optional - is only used in connection with the competition)

E) Country (optional - is only used in connection with the competition)

F) E-mail, if any

G) Gender

H) Age

I) How many years have you attended school or other education/training (includes apprenticeship/traineeship)?

J) During the last 30 days, how many hours on average have you used a computer for activities other than work/study? Please round down to the nearest 30 minutes, if possible

1) If you were to choose between the two following writing utensils, which would you choose?

2a) Imagine yourself as an employer. You have to hire a new worker. The choice lies between a woman or a man. They are both 25 years of age, work equally fast and have the same qualifications. The job can be done equally well by a woman or a man. They are both to receive the same salary and are both to be trained for a year.

Who would you hire?

2b) Why?

3) Imagine yourself arrested for a crime you have committed with a friend of yours. The police only have little evidence against you. You are isolated from each other and questioned separately. You have the choice between confessing to or denying the crime. If you confess and your friend denies, you will get the shortest penalty because you have helped clearing up the crime. Your friend receives the same offer, if you deny and he confesses. If you both deny, you receive a penalty that is less than if you both confess. Your future domicile will be the prison and you must spend the following years there:

If you confess and your friend denies: You will get 1 year and your friend will get 7 years.
If you confess and your friend confesses: You will get 5 years and your friend will get 5 years.
If you deny and your friend denies: You will get 2 years and your friend will get 2 years.
If you deny and your friend confesses: You will get 7 years and your friend will get 1 year.

What do you do?

4) Your friend is a hardened criminal and is familiar with the above mentioned penalties. Therefore you agree before committing the crime, that both of you will deny. As before, you are questioned separately.

What do you do?

5) What would your answer to question number 3 be, if you know that your friend is a member of a very violent gang. You are not a member of any gang, and you have a family, you care a lot about. You havn't made any agreement in anticipation.

What do you do?

6) If you were to choose between the following two writing utensils, which would you choose?

7) A very eccentric millionaire has set up two stalls at the market place where you can win money, and you don't have to place any bets. At both stalls there is a wheel of fortune with 100 squares. You only have one opportunity to visit one of the stalls. At the first stall you can win 3,000$, no matter where the wheel stops, and at the other stall you can win 4,000$ if the wheel stops at squares number 1-80, and nothing, if the wheel stops at squares number 81-100.

Which stall do you go to?

8) The eccentric millionaire likes you and lets you visit one of his stalls again. This time you have the chance to win more: at the first stall you can win 3,000$ if the wheel stops at squares number 1-25, and nothing if the wheel stops at 26-100. At the other stall you can win 4,000$ if the wheel stops at squares number 1-20, and you win nothing if the wheel stops at 21-100.

Which stall do you go to?

9) If you were to choose between the following two writing utensils, which would you choose?

10) Imagine that you are in a competition where you have one other competitor. You both have to choose between two options. You do not have the option of communicating with your competitor, but both you and your competitor's choice influence how much you get out of the competition. You will not be informed about what your competitor chooses and your competitor will not be informed of your choice.

You have the choice between playing cards 1 and 2, and at the same time your competitor will have choice between the front or the reverse side of the cards. If, for example, you choose card 1 and your competitor chooses reverse side, then you get the card in the bottom left hand corner, which gives you 0$ each. Both you and your competitor are informed of the prizes, which are:

Card 1

Card 2

Front side:

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

Reverse side:

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 100$

Your competitor
gets 100$

Which card do you choose?

11) Imagine that you again are taking part in a competition, like the one above. This time you and your competitor both get 4 options:

You can choose between cards 1 to 4 (your prizes can be read from the top down on the cards below).

Your competitor can choose between the top half of the front sides, the bottom half of the front sides, and the top half of the reverse sides and the bottom half of the reverse sides (your competitor's prizes can be read across on the cards below).

If, for example, you choose card 4, and your competitor chooses the bottom half of the front side, you will get the prize on the bottom half of the card in the top right hand corner, which is 0$. each. The prizes in this fictive competition are:

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Front side:

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 100$

Your competitor
gets 100$

You get 99$

Your competitor
gets 99$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

Reverse side:

You get 100$

Your competitor
gets 100$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 0$

Your competitor
gets 0$

You get 100$

Your competitor
gets 100$

Which card do you choose?

12) If you were to choose between the following two writing utensils, which would you choose?

Drawing lots and prizes

The Drawing lot for the prizes will take place on 1st of October 1998 at 12 noon CET. Each person can only enter with one questionnaire form.

The lots for the prizes will be drawn from two pools: The first pool will consist of all who have completed the questionnaire. The second pool will consist only of the people who have answered correctly on a selection of questions. You may therefore have two chances of winning.

In both pools the following prizes will be drawn:

1st prize: 500 DKK (about 75$)
2nd prize: 200 DKK
3rd-5th prize: 100 DKK

We are currently applying to funds and sponsors for money. If our efforts are fruitful, we will update the prize list, and you will automatically take part in the draw for the increased prizes.

The winners will be contacted directly and the names of the winners will be shown on the internet address: http://www.ecostud.aau.dk/homepage/902177/winners.htm from the 1st of October 1998 at 4 pm. CET

The background for this questionnaire

The questionnaire is a part of the final paper (thesis) that is to be written to complete a master-degree. The paper is prepared at the Department of Economics, University of Aarhus, Denmark, and it takes about 6 month of intensive work to complete it.

The subject of this paper is survey-analysis and experimental economics. Experimental economics is a kind of laboraty-research, in which one can test the economic theory by giving people different choices, in which the theory predict a unique solution. With this survey I would like to test, if these economic theories are reasonable.

A bit more about each question

Writing utensils: Please answer, what writing utensil, you prefer generally. What you write upon (white paper, notepad etc.), to whom you write, etc. are not know to you. This is because the question in that case would be too complex. The prison-questions: Even though you never would committ a crime, please try to image, what you would do in a situation, where you indeed are arrested. Wheel-of-fortune-questions: Choose the stall which you immediately prefer. Card-questions: Choose the card, which you believe gives you the biggest chance of winning.

Something for those, who fancy economics:

Questions 1, 6, 9, 12 (The writing-utensils-questions) are used to test, if the respondents preferences are transitive.
Questions 2a and 2b are used to test, if people are objective in the choise of gender. One could amagine, that a majority of the male respondents would choose a man and that a majorty af the female respondent would choose a woman.
The questions 3-5 is about prisoner's dilemma.
The questions 7-8 is about risk-preferences.
Question 10 is a simple game-theoretic question.
Questions 11 is about focal point(s).

More about the draw

Last chance of fulfilling the questionnaire is September 20. 1998. Hereafter the blank forms are removed. If a person has fulfilled more than one questionnaire, only the latest form will participate in the draw.

The database is then sorted by two or three criteria (like third letter in the name, forth letter in the answer to question 2b, etc.). Only I am aware of these criteria.

October 1. 1998 noon the draw will take place. If you are in Denmark at this time, and you want to attend the draw, please e-mail me: . The persons who monitor the draw mention some numbers between 1 and the number of answers. We then find the winners in the database according to these numbers.

We then do the same for pool number 2 (pool number 2 is established to get serious answers).

It is possible for a person to get a prize from both pools.

All winners will get a bank-cheque, and will be informed via e-mail, if the e-mail is supported. Name, city and country will be stated at http://www.ecostud.aau.dk/homepage/902177/winners.htm fra 1. oktober kl. 16. Adress, postal code and e-mail will not be stated.

Yours sincerely

Ulrik Dahl