Role Models and gender gaps in vocational-technical high schools in Chile.

Last registered on August 10, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Role Models and gender gaps in vocational-technical high schools in Chile.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011902
Initial registration date
August 07, 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
August 10, 2023, 1:37 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Chile
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Maria Paola Sevilla
Affiliation
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Cristobal Madero
PI Affiliation
Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Selene Cueva
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-06-05
End date
2023-12-31
Keywords
Education, Gender, Labor, Post-conflict
Additional Keywords
Role Models; Technical and Vocational Education, and Training, Gender; Chile
JEL code(s)
I23, I26, J16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Recent studies indicate that only one out of three female students persists in their chosen field when it is historically dominated by males, whereas male students persist at a rate of 70%. This research project uses an experimental approach to study the effects of incorporating female role models (role-model) in delivering information on educational and occupational alternatives related to Industrial Maintenance and Automation 4.0 among female students in vocational-technical high schools in Chile (EMTP by its acronym in Spanish) in the context of a middle-income country. The experiment involves a short-term intervention where male and female students from Electrical, Electronics, Industrial Mechanics, Automotive Mechanics, and Programming specializations in 80 EMTP institutions are introduced to the labor context, qualifications, and occupational profiles of the multisector of Industrial Maintenance and Automation 4.0. Furthermore, the students receive guidance on the associated educational and occupational pathways. In the “treatment” institutions, the information and guidance will include life stories of three female professionals who have built their educational and occupational careers from EMTP to the Industrial Maintenance and Automation 4.0 multisector. In the remaining “control" institutions, neutral gender-oriented information and guidance will be provided. We will study the effects of the exposure to role-models through video on educational aspirations and mechanisms such as gender stereotypes on women in EMTP careers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cueva, Selene, Cristobal Madero and Maria Paola Sevilla. 2023. "Role Models and gender gaps in vocational-technical high schools in Chile.." AEA RCT Registry. August 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11902-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The experiment involves a short-term intervention where male and female students from Electrical, Electronics, Industrial Mechanics, Automotive Mechanics, and Programming specializations in EMTP institutions across Chile are introduced to the labor context, qualifications, and occupational profiles of the multisector of Industrial Maintenance and Automation 4.0. Furthermore, the students receive guidance on the associated educational and occupational pathways. The intervention content will be hosted on a restricted-access web platform to which the students will be invited to access.

Control Group: In the "control" institutions, neutral gender-oriented information and guidance about educational and occupational pathways are provided. The information is delivered through 4 sessions of 45 minutes with mini-informative videos about 1) Industry 4.0; 2) technical maintenance; 3) technological trends, and 4) Training-labor trajectories in technical maintenance. At the end of each session, the students were asked comprehension questions.

Treatment Group: Besides the information provided for the control group, the "treatment" institutions also receive information about the life stories of three young female professionals who have built their educational and occupational careers from EMTP to the Industrial Maintenance and Automation 4.0 multisector. After the videos, the participants also need to answer additional reflection questions about the role models' videos as part of the intervention.
Intervention Start Date
2023-06-05
Intervention End Date
2023-10-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• STEM Career Aspirations
• Implicit bias toward women in STEM higher education programs or careers
• Enrollment in STEM higher education programs (long-run outcome)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
• STEM Career Aspirations: We have two measurements of aspirations or interest in STEM careers since they are cumbersome to measure. The first measure directly asks if the participant will have an interest in pursuing a career in STEM or in working in the occupational sector related to these fields. The second way is a one-factor scale that aggregates 5 items with a 5 points Likert Scale.
• Implicit bias towards women in STEM Careers: Measured through an Implicit Association Test that links gender to STEM Careers.
• Enrollment in STEM higher education programs: Measured through self-reported status after 3 years of finalizing the intervention. This is a long-run outcome, and will not be evaluated as part of the study focused on short-term outcomes.
Although the intervention is focused on women, we will test changes in outcomes for both female and male students because of the potential existence of a not so explore channel through improving male-peer perceptions about women in the STEM labor force. This channel might be especially worth exploring in a highly male-dominated context.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
• Stereotype endorsement
• Expectations toward a career in STEM fields
• Expectations towards a work position in STEM fields
• Engagement toward the career.
• Attitude towards the career.
• Self of belonging toward the career.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
• Stereotype endorsement: Explicit bias towards women in STEM Careers. It is measured through a one-factor scale that aggregates 5 items with a 5 points Likert Scale.
• Expectations towards a career in STEM: One-factor scale that aggregates 4 self-reported items.
• Expectations towards a work position in STEM: One-factor scale that aggregates 4 self-reported items
• Engagement towards the career: One-factor scale that aggregates 3 self-reported items.
• Attitude towards the career: One-factor scale that aggregates 5 self-reported items.
• Self of belonging toward the career: One-factor scale that aggregates 4 self-reported items.

Engagement, attitude, and self of belonging are intermediate variables.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment includes the following stages:

1) Sample definition and invitation to participate in the study: All the EMTP schools in Chile that have at least 5 women students currently enrolled in the specializations of Electrical, Electronics, Industrial Mechanics, Automotive Mechanics, and Programming in 3rd and 4th year of high school were invited to be part of the study. Schools that accepted to cooperate will continue with the experiment.

The enrollment of schools has been done through 2 rounds. The rounds were divided based on the time of confirmation of each school.

2) Randomization: This study conducted clustered randomization by schools, assigning half of the schools to be part of the treatment group and the other half to the control group.

3) Access to the platform and baseline: The intervention content is hosted on a restricted-access web platform to which the students will be invited to access. The participants access it with their individual accounts created for the project. There, they first answer questions about sociodemographic background, the perception of the participants about the labor EMTP market, support, and others.

4) Intervention: During 4 sessions of 45 min, the participants watch the intervention of their respective group.

5) Endline: In the last session, after one or two weeks the intervention is finalized, the participants will answer the endline questionnaire.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We assign treatment status using a computer-based random number generation process after the schools accept to participate in the study. The stratified randomization uses these variables: capital, type of school, and round of participation, to create the strata.
Randomization Unit
The level of randomization is the school.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We expect about 90 schools.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Woman: 500. Men: 1790.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
45 schools in the treatment group
45 schools in the control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
IRB Approval Date
2023-03-08
IRB Approval Number
230129001
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