Students' perceptions about early morning and non-early morning classes

Last registered on September 19, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Students' perceptions about early morning and non-early morning classes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010038
Initial registration date
September 08, 2022

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
September 19, 2022, 2:58 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
West Lafayette, IN

Primary Investigator

Name
LokTing Yim
Affiliation
Purdue University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Victoria Prowse
PI Affiliation
Purdue University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-09-12
End date
2022-09-18
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
I23, I26, D91
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We examine how students' perceptions change about the course subject when students are randomly assigned to an early morning (7:30 AM) and a non-early morning classes in a public university in the U.S. Our hypothesis is that students may have a stronger negative feelings about the course material when they are assigned to an early morning class than those who are not because of attribution bias.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Prowse, Victoria and LokTing Yim. 2022. "Students' perceptions about early morning and non-early morning classes." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10038-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The purpose of this survey is to help researchers understand student experiences from ECON 252 Macroeconomics. It will take 2-3 minutes to complete the survey. After completing the survey, you can choose to opt in to a raffle with the chance to win $5 Amazon gift cards. The survey is anonymous and strictly voluntary.
Intervention (Hidden)
I intend to examine the impact of early morning classes on students' perceptions about the course. I am planning to ask students questions about their in-class experiences from an early morning and a non-early morning classes. I will also collect students' demographic information and basic class registration information for further analysis. Since class schedules are randomly assigned to students, I can treat that as a quasi-natural experiment.
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-12
Intervention End Date
2022-09-18

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- I enjoy attending classes
- I actively participate in class discussions
- My classmates actively participate in class discussions
- Class discussions increase my critical thinking
- Classes motivate my learning
- I would learn more from a different section of ECON 252 with the same instructor
- My experience in this class makes me want to take another economics class
- The instructor gives clear lectures
- The instructor gives engaging lectures
- The instructor helps me learn during class
- The instructor is enthusiastic about the materials during class

Notice that these are the questions students will answer about their perceptions of the course.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
My outcomes are all categorical variables. Respondents can answer the option that best describes how they feel about each statement:
• Strongly Agree
• Agree
• Neither Agree or Disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly Disagree

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Since class schedules are randomly assigned to students by the university, I plan to survey students who attend an early morning and a non-early morning classes taught by the same instructor within the same course about their perceptions about the course.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by the university
Randomization Unit
section-by-term level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
837 undergraduate students from a lower-level economics course
Sample size: planned number of observations
837 undergraduate students from a lower-level economics course
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
392 students from the treatment group
445 students from the control group

Notice that both are the upper bound of students who may participate in the survey. Since the survey is strictly voluntary, the numbers are likely to be lower than 837.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Not applicable.
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
IRB Approved Protocol
Document Type
irb_protocol
Document Description
This is my research protocol from Purdue's IRB.
File
IRB Approved Protocol

MD5: 1d65a8a648a56277b8b2cee68cbc0ebc

SHA1: 93f328e720f692b8329e367e586e48921f633a54

Uploaded At: September 08, 2022

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Purdue's Human Research Protection Program
IRB Approval Date
2022-08-12
IRB Approval Number
IRB-2022-874
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