Participants
We first did a power analysis to determine our sample size. Assuming a minimum effect size w = 0.25, alpha = 0.05, power = 0.95, we need a minimum number of 208 participants in total. Thus, we recruited a group of 276 policymakers and policy influencers from the Northwest Territories in Canada. We obtained participant emails from public records, and prior direct contact with them unrelated to this study. Of the 276 participants, 208 were elected officials (i.e., Chiefs, City Councillors, Mayors, Members of the Legislative Assembly) and 68 were policy influencers who work closely with policymakers (i.e., Deputy Ministers, Assistant Deputy Ministers, cabinet policy advisors, senior policy advisors, and policy analysts). The policy influencers were important to include in the study because they often directly influence the policy decisions of elected officials with whom they closely work.Participants were required to meet the following criteria to be included in our study: they must be involved in developing, drafting, or influencing policy and/or legislation within the NWT; they must have a publicly available email address; and they must speak English and is at or over the age of 18. Participants were excluded from our study based on the following criteria: if they actively opted-out or withdrew from the study; if they had an invalid email address; if we received an email confirmation that the participant had retired from their position; and if they participated in a group opposite to that assigned by random assignment. In total eight participants from the control group and five from the treatment group were excluded from our study due to invalid email addresses and/or job retirement, leaving a final sample size of 263. There were 133 participants in the treatment group (100 elected officials, 33 policy influencers; 43% Female) and 130 participants in the control group (97 elected officials, 33 policy influencers; 44% Female). Participants were informed about the study in the email invitations (outlined below) and consent was implied by default through the reception of these emails. Participants were able to opt-out of the study by responding to the email to withdraw their consent. The study was approved by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board, with all methods performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.