Information on Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Returns and College Major Choice

Last registered on June 04, 2019
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information on Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Returns and College Major Choice
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004256
Initial registration date
June 03, 2019

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 04, 2019, 12:12 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
CA

Primary Investigator

Name
Derek Rury
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lester Lusher
PI Affiliation
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2017-09-10
End date
2022-07-10
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We test the effect of providing publicly available information about the pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to college students deciding their college major. More specifically, we send emails to over 10,000 UC Davis students with information about the ranking of college major categories by average earnings, relatedness of job to major and job satisfaction, randomly varying the information among participants. We plan to measure the effect of information on important education outcomes such as course-taking, grades, college major choice and graduation.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lusher, Lester and Derek Rury. 2019. "Information on Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Returns and College Major Choice." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4256-1.0
Former Citation
Lusher, Lester and Derek Rury. 2019. "Information on Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Returns and College Major Choice." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4256/history/47478
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We send emails to over 10,000 UC Davis students with information about the ranking of college major categories by average earnings, relatedness of job to major and job satisfaction, randomly varying the information among participants. We plan to measure the effect of information on important education outcomes such as course-taking, grades, college major choice and graduation.
Intervention Start Date
2017-09-10
Intervention End Date
2018-04-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Courses taken, grades, college major(s), minor(s), and graduation outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
These educational outcomes are standard in the literature exploring the role of providing information about college majors to college students. We will be provide information on all of these outcomes from the university.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We are also interested in how these outcomes vary by important demographic characteristics, such as gender, socio-economic status, ethnic background and whether or not they are a first-generation college goer.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We also believe the results may vary by these characteristics. We will be provided information on these characteristics by the university.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We create several groups from a sample of college students at UC Davis, oversampling undecided freshman and sophomores. We then randomly assign students to these groups (treatment arms). Over the course of a week during the beginning of the academic term, we send emails containing the relevant information for each arm. Relevant outcomes are measured through the student's tenure at UC Davis.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
I upload email addresses to the stata software, calculate a uniform random variable that randomly assigns a number between 0 and 1 to each observation. I then order the observations on this variable and create equal cutoffs for each treatment arm/control group.
Randomization Unit
Student level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Treatment was administered at the unit of observation (student level).
Sample size: planned number of observations
11,001 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment will be divided roughly equally across treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Measuring the Effect of Information on College Major Choice
IRB Approval Date
2017-03-11
IRB Approval Number
1073199-2
Analysis Plan

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