Mentoring program experiment

Last registered on September 19, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Mentoring program experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010045
Initial registration date
September 09, 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, 3:00 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Stanford University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Stanford University

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-11-15
End date
2022-09-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The tech sector faces a challenge in improving gender balance. Various strategies of addressing it has been hypothesized, but we lack empirical evidence of their effectiveness. In this project, we provide RCT-based evidence of the effectiveness of mentoring for women transitioning to tech sector.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Athey, Susan and Emil Palikot. 2022. "Mentoring program experiment." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10045-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In this intervention we randomize access to the mentoring program. The program has historically been oversubscribed. We exploit this fact to randomly assign applicants to the treatment group and control. To ensure high quality of matches, we ask mentors to select two applicants (instead of one as they did in earlier editions of the program). Within the selected pairs we randomly assigned one candidate to treatment and the other one to control.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2021-11-15
Intervention End Date
2022-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcome is finding a tech job defined as a job in a tech firm (excluding non-tech roles such as legal, finance, HR etc.) or a tech position in a non-tech firm such as a software engineer or a data scientist.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In this experiment, we exploit the fact that the mentoring program organized by DareIT is substantially oversubscribed to randomize access. We ask mentors two select two applicants. Applicants are screened for eligibility by DareIT. Within the selected pairs one applicant is randomized into treatment and the other one into the control group.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Random assignment within pairs. Randomization executed by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual applicant.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
320
Sample size: planned number of observations
320
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
160 in treatment and 160 in control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Research Compliance Office
IRB Approval Date
2021-10-04
IRB Approval Number
62442

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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