This article introduces and investigates a refinement of alternating sign trapezoids by means of Catalan objects and Motzkin paths. Alternating sign trapezoids are a generalisation of alternating sign triangles, which were recently introduced by Ayyer, Behrend and Fischer... We show that the number of alternating sign trapezoids associated with a Catalan object (resp. Motzkin path) is a polynomial function in the length of the shorter base of the trapezoid. We also study the rational roots of the polynomials and formulate several conjectures and derive some partial results. Lastly, we deduce a constant term identity for the refined counting of alternating sign trapezoids. (read more)