Gender Imbalance Online

Last registered on June 16, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender Imbalance Online
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002146
Initial registration date
June 16, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 16, 2017, 8:17 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
European Commission's JRC

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard
PI Affiliation
Harvard Business School

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-04-16
End date
2017-09-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We study motivations behind the observed gender imbalance online: why women participate less than men on online platforms, a finding that has been well documented in past empirical research on large online platforms like Wikipedia.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Blasco, Andrea, Karim R. Lakhani and Micheal Menietti. 2017. "Gender Imbalance Online." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2146-1.0
Former Citation
Blasco, Andrea, Karim R. Lakhani and Micheal Menietti. 2017. "Gender Imbalance Online." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2146/history/18709
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-06-20
Intervention End Date
2017-06-27

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Key outcome variables are:

* Individual page views after the intervention
* Individual participation in crowd sourcing challenges. These include registering for a challenge, submitting a proposal, forming a team, contributing in the public forum, etc.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental consists of a direct solicitation to platform members (both men and women). The experimental intervention lies in presenting award-winning members of different gender and race as "role models" to encourage participation in activities on the platform. We will randomize between 18 different potential role models (solicitations will be sent in 3 waves for practical considerations). Hence, the experimental design is a 18x1 matrix.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We used computer random generated numbers to assign profiles to platform members. Randomization was completely at random (no blocking).
Randomization Unit
Randomization unit is the individual member of the platform.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
Sample size is of about 50,000 contacted members.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Planned number of observation is of ~2800 per profile (50,000/ 18).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gender Imbalance Online
IRB Approval Date
2017-04-04
IRB Approval Number
IRB17-0473
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials