The impact of a “progress with your goals” curriculum and its cultural framing among female microfinance clients in Vietnam

Last registered on May 04, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impact of a “progress with your goals” curriculum and its cultural framing among female microfinance clients in Vietnam
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011848
Initial registration date
September 08, 2023

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 15, 2023, 8:51 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 04, 2026, 11:14 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Robert Lensink
Affiliation
University of Groningen
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Nina Hansen
PI Affiliation
University of Groningen
PI Name
Travis Lybbert
PI Affiliation
University of California, Davis
PI Name
Claire Stein
PI Affiliation
University of Groningen
PI Name
Mark Treurniet
PI Affiliation
University of Groningen
PI Name
Nhung Vu
PI Affiliation
RMIT Vietnam

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-06-13
End date
2026-10-31
Keywords
Behavior, Finance & Microfinance, Gender
Additional Keywords
training, culture, framing, savings, competition
JEL code(s)
D91, O16
Secondary IDs
406.20.EB.007
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Development interventions are often designed from independent perspectives that prioritize individualism, personal achievement and self-reliance, while individuals in non-Western countries are more likely to relate to interdependent values such as collective well-being, collaboration and traditions. Inspired by previous research, we have developed a “progress with your goals” curriculum that aims to help women to save. We created two versions, one incorporates an independent framing and the other incorporates an interdependent framing. Together with Tinh Thuong Microfinance Organization (TYM), a Vietnamese microfinance institution, we organize a field experiment to study the effect of the training and its different framings on women’s savings and preferences for competition.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hansen, Nina et al. 2026. "The impact of a “progress with your goals” curriculum and its cultural framing among female microfinance clients in Vietnam." AEA RCT Registry. May 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11848-4.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Partner

Name
Tinh Thuong Microfinance Institution
Type
government
URL
http://tymfund.org.vn/en/
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The "progress with your goals" curriculum consists of four session. In session 1, participants reflect on their life goals and formulate smaller savings goals. Session 2 focuses on self-efficacy and session 3 deals with communication strategies. Session 4 is a recap session, in which participants reflect on the progress they made in each session topic and on challenges they experienced.
From the second session onwards, one version of the curriculum incorporates interdependent framing and another version incorporates independent framing. The framing is introduced in a video that features a women who is working towards her life goal, either in an independent or an interdependent way. Further, we provide lists of independent and interdependent strengths that women can use in their reflection exercises.
For further details, we refer to our Pre Analysis Plan.
Intervention Start Date
2023-08-05
Intervention End Date
2023-11-26

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Savings at our partner microfinance institution.

Preferences for competition.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See our Pre-Analysis Plan for definitions.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
* Secondary outcomes: Other savings balances, loan balances, household income, personal income and freely available budget may reveal additional impact of the intervention or explain where any effect on savings at our partner microfinance organization comes from.
* Intermediate outcomes: Savings goals and indices for self-efficacy and communication may be affected by the training in general. In contrast, indices for partner, family and community connectedness may be affected specifically by the interdependent framing.
* Uptake: Participation in and satisfaction with training sessions and post-session short measures of self-efficacy, communication and homework completion may differ across the framings.

Risk preferences.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
See our Pre-Analysis Plan for definitions.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
All members of our partner microfinance institution in the selected region could register. Per member group, up to 9 eligible members were included in the sample. We subsequently created equally-sized strata based on the number of eligible members per group. Within these strata, we randomly assigned member groups to our two treatment arms and a control arm.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Member groups.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
163 member groups.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,140 members.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
53 member groups control, 55 member groups independent training and 55 member groups interdependent training.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The Minimum Detectable Effect Size varies between 0.153 and 0.237 standard deviations, depending on the comparison and assumptions. See our Pre-Analysis Plan for details and for standard deviations of main outcomes at baseline.
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Lab-in-the-field experiment protocol
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Lab-in-the-field experiment protocol

MD5: feb1c671d25e317d54d7dda55bd4085c

SHA1: f9e10a8d993bcf5a1b74f8f771625c3ae3808d5a

Uploaded At: September 08, 2023

Document Name
Participant handbook
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Participant handbook

MD5: 7dcfa5fa9312cb2965c4e8b4bd8de03e

SHA1: f8cbe0d6d104c91d649af835f342d37c851b74b1

Uploaded At: August 18, 2023

Document Name
Certificate of clearance
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Certificate of clearance

MD5: c550a0435243a2675bb01d41a59f1b22

SHA1: b3d051088f091f92b905d73d65acb550f677089d

Uploaded At: September 08, 2023

Document Name
Baseline survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Baseline survey

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SHA1: dffbc1ea35cc95d74b5dfae683a5a0dd274397fc

Uploaded At: September 08, 2023

Document Name
Session 1 survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Session 1 survey

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SHA1: e5ee7f91ac84e02002fc338d7e488c8e4f806493

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Session 2 survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Session 2 survey

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SHA1: 4c6999d50e820e09ca12e1584a24dc2420bd9580

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Session 3 survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Session 3 survey

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SHA1: fbec7d20c97c49500ead02f5b8f534babd32d274

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Game tool
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Game tool

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SHA1: 25bfbff9217b90267cd164bd8da9731da450e845

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Midline survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Midline survey

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SHA1: a13c230f92914a1c6c92483ac52fc75062327158

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Endline survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Endline survey

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SHA1: 1773066ecea8233745979fd6163739786664f3da

Uploaded At: April 29, 2026

Document Name
Facilitator guidelines independent
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Facilitator guidelines independent

MD5: b7f14b69c4c52ee80130633e3dbbde4b

SHA1: 42d3b333b213995aaa6dbe204ff75d48db01a4c7

Uploaded At: August 18, 2023

Document Name
Facilitator guidelines interdependent
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Facilitator guidelines interdependent

MD5: e477a8dbc405f3bced5ece0738212fee

SHA1: 18a163988e7bb5fffd83acac31f96b45689d3412

Uploaded At: August 18, 2023

Document Name
Video script
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Video script

MD5: 32f4246fea8a17186dba1c58fce378eb

SHA1: b6b7c53b600d808f7df6552d8e3013b6bbbb435b

Uploaded At: August 18, 2023

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Institutional Review Board, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen
IRB Approval Date
2023-06-01
IRB Approval Number
FEB-20230308-13933
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan

MD5: a0bcd0bcde7d9eb109d029e279fa70a8

SHA1: 86bdec82cc7bd8d439921f9a1445ad77ba0ca0fd

Uploaded At: September 08, 2023

Pre-analysis plan - version 2

MD5: f8ba54c94f2b6e3bd142edd23c2bc7ed

SHA1: 8ee9359c362353b23dc786c219c53ca0189583fd

Uploaded At: March 08, 2024

Pre-analysis plan - version 3

MD5: 63cfcd62bb9e6a0fcf5c380836c8d375

SHA1: 3549a67c0c6f56fd7e13a2e4cdaa4b957b38810e

Uploaded At: June 24, 2024