Assignment Name: Experimental Study on Climate Change and Climate Finance Preferences in Bangladesh.

Assignment Start Date: June 2026

Assignment End Date: July 2026

Country: Bangladesh

Client Name: Department of Economics, Institute of Tax Law and Economics, Leiden Law School, Leiden University

Project Description:

The Department of Economics, Institute of Tax Law and Economics, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, is conducting an experimental study on public preferences for climate-finance allocation in Bangladesh. The study examines how citizens prioritize spending among adaptation in Bangladesh, mitigation in Bangladesh, and mitigation abroad, and whether information on the relative efficiency and effectiveness of these options influences their preferences.

The research applies a randomized 3 × 2 experimental design through Qualtrics, combining three climate-spending proposal conditions with an information-treatment and control condition. The instrument also includes climate-risk perceptions, demographic and prosociality measures, comprehension and manipulation checks, a constant-sum budget-allocation exercise, and five conjoint-choice tasks covering policy type, location, financing source, household cost, lives saved, and carbon-emission reduction.

The study targets approximately 2,400 adult respondents aged 18 years and above through enumerator-administered telephone interviews. The sample will be structured to achieve broad national representation across age, gender, income, education, geographic region, and residence type.

DM WATCH LIMITED is serving as the national research and implementation partner, supporting contextual review, professional Bangla translation, sampling-frame development, respondent recruitment, Qualtrics testing, field-team deployment, survey administration, quota monitoring, data-quality assurance, data cleaning, and fieldwork documentation. The firm will also provide contextual and methodological inputs and collaborate with the international research team in interpreting the Bangladesh findings and drafting the resulting scientific paper.

The study will generate evidence on public support for climate adaptation and mitigation, preferences for domestic versus international allocation, the effects of efficiency information, and the political economy of climate finance in a highly climate-vulnerable developing country.

DM WATCH LIMITED will provide integrated research, field implementation, data-management, and knowledge-support services, including:

Study Review and Contextualization

• Review the questionnaire, pre-analysis plan, experimental design, sampling requirements, ethics provisions, and background materials.
• Advise on the contextual relevance, clarity, and operational feasibility of the survey in Bangladesh.
• Maintain a clarification and issue log and coordinate technical decisions with the Leiden University research team.

Translation and Instrument Preparation

• Translate and adapt the English questionnaire into clear and neutral Bangla while preserving the experimental meaning.
• Review technical concepts relating to adaptation, mitigation, climate finance, emissions reduction, cost-effectiveness, and policy trade-offs.
• Support cognitive review, pilot testing, and finalization of the questionnaire.

Sampling and Respondent Recruitment

• Compile, clean, standardize, and consolidate suitable contact databases into an operational sampling frame.
• Develop a quota-based recruitment strategy aligned with age, gender, income, education, geography, and residence type.
• Maintain reserve contact pools and a live quota-monitoring system.

Qualtrics Testing and Field Preparation

• Review and test the client-hosted Qualtrics survey, including flow, display logic, randomization, embedded variables, conjoint tasks, mandatory responses, and data export.
• Verify that treatment assignments, respondent identifiers, demographic variables, timestamps, and experimental-condition data are captured correctly.

• Recruit, train, and brief enumerators and quality-control personnel on standardized telephone interviewing, informed consent, neutrality, survey navigation, and respondent-management procedures.

Survey Administration and Quality Assurance

• Conduct approximately 2,400 completed telephone interviews using the client-provided Qualtrics link.
• Monitor sample distribution, quota achievement, interview duration, completion status, enumerator performance, and unusual response patterns.
• Apply daily quality checks, supervisory review, issue tracking, and corrective action to protect data quality and experimental integrity.

Data Management and Documentation

• Clean, validate, organize, and document respondent-level data.
• Prepare the cleaned dataset, variable and coding documentation, achieved-sample distribution, contact and response-status summary, and standard fieldwork documentation.
• Preserve raw data, maintain controlled access, and document all cleaning and quality-control decisions.

Research Interpretation and Scientific Paper Support

• Provide Bangladesh-specific contextual interpretation of the findings.
• Support review of descriptive and experimental results, including subgroup and conjoint findings.
• Collaborate with the Leiden University research team in drafting and refining the scientific paper, particularly the methodology, Bangladesh context, field implementation, interpretation, limitations, and policy implications sections.

Key Deliverables

• Reviewed and professionally translated Bangla questionnaire.
• Sampling frame, recruitment strategy, and quota-allocation framework.
• Qualtrics testing and issue log.
• Trained field team and pilot findings.
• Approximately 2,400 completed interviews.
• Cleaned respondent-level dataset and data documentation.
• Fieldwork, quota, and quality-control documentation.
• Technical and contextual inputs for analysis and scientific-paper preparation.