Primary Outcomes (explanation)
(1) Likelihood of studying economics on higher education will be asked directly to students on a scale from 0 to 100. Students will also be asked about the likelihood of studying their best or second best subject (i.e besides economics) on higher education.
(2) Economic literacy is based on questions that measure students’ proficiency on the topics they learned during the course. This survey was developed together with teachers that helped to create the course materials.
(3) Self-efficacy will be measured with scales based on May (2009); Kundu (2016); and Lent et al. (2016) adapted for the decision of students to study economics.
(4) Outcome expectation on study and job outcomes was based on the scale from Betz & Voyten (1997).
(5) Economic stereotypes will be measured by a Linkert-scale on how much students associate common stereotypes with economists.
(6) Social image will be measured by a Linkert-scale based on how positively/negatively students’ social circle would evaluate their decision to study economics and on how positively or negatively they evaluate economic stereotypes to be.
(7) Political views will be estimated by a two-dimensional scale based on Evans et al. (1996), which measures left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values.
Besides the tests of the main outcome variables, pre-existing conditions of students (e.g. grades in math and language, situation of family, previous interest in economics, socioeconomic status) and school (e.g. private/public, region, performance in past standardized tests, funding by student) will also be collected.
References:
Betz, N. E., & Voyten, K. K. (1997). Efficacy and outcome expectations influence career exploration and decidedness. The Career Development Quarterly, 46(2), 179-189.
Evans, G., Heath, A., & Lalljee, M. (1996). Measuring left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values in the British electorate. British Journal of Sociology, 93-112.
Kundu, A., & Ghose, A. (2016). The relationship between attitude and self-efficacy in mathematics among higher secondary students. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 21(4), 25-31.
Lent, R. W., Ezeofor, I., Morrison, M. A., Penn, L. T., & Ireland, G. W. (2016). Applying the social cognitive model of career self-management to career exploration and decision-making. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 93, 47-57.
May, D. K. (2009). Mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety questionnaire (Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia).