Unlocking Potential: Examining Students' Career and Educational Aspirations

Last registered on October 04, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Unlocking Potential: Examining Students' Career and Educational Aspirations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012143
Initial registration date
October 03, 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
October 04, 2023, 5:07 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Dilnovoz Abdurazzakova
Affiliation
Central European University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-10-05
End date
2024-09-01
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Gender
Additional Keywords
Aspiration
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
While female share in the global labor market is increasing, their participation still lags behind that of men in most countries and they represent most of the low paying occupations. One of the important determinants of individuals’ educational investments and occupational choice is considered their aspiration levels.
In this research project I plan to study if aspiration of school aged children is affected by social norm or more specifically is there horizontal social transmission that shapes females and males aspirations differently and further motivates to females to choose female dominant (traditional) jobs and males to choose otherwise. I plan to implement two interventions aimed at understanding and potentially reshaping these norms. In first intervention, I will randomly assign 60 public schools to 1) a control group, 2) an information treatment group, 3) Information treatment and role model treatment. I will evaluate the impact of each treatment on student's career and educational aspirations and other outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Abdurazzakova, Dilnovoz. 2023. "Unlocking Potential: Examining Students' Career and Educational Aspirations." AEA RCT Registry. October 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12143-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
There are 2 interventions are planned to be implemented: The first intervention involves role modeling. Schools will be divided into three groups: a control group and two groups exposed to video interviews of young professionals. First treated group students receive video interviews about these professionals' occupations. And the last group will also receive additional information on their personal life. I plan to estimate if introduced treatments change social norms in the classrooms and students’ aspiration levels.
The second intervention focuses on the peer observability affect. I randomly assign classrooms in every school into two groups: treated and control groups. This intervention aims to study whether students' reported aspirations are influenced by being observed by their peers.
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-01
Intervention End Date
2024-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Educational aspiration of students, Career aspiration of students
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Educational and career aspiration of the students will be constructed based on a set of questions regarding to career and education plans of students using principal component analyses.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Computer class take up, computer class participation, interest in international available scholarships, perception on gender norms, willingness to participate in class activity.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Perception on gender norms is measured using principal component analyses based on a set of questions that ask students opinion on gender roles

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This is a cluster randomized control trial, with the schools as the unit of randomizations. Schools are grouped into 3 groups:
1. Control: No information is shared
2. Treated 1: Students receive information treatment
3. Treated 2: Students receive information treatment an role model treatment.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
There are 2 levels of randomization. First intervention is at school level and school is randomization unit. And for the second intervention classrooms are randomization units.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
60 Schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
80 students/school = 4800 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
20 schools control, 20 schools information treatment, 20 schools information and role model treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
CEU PhD in Economics Program Committee
IRB Approval Date
2023-09-06
IRB Approval Number
CEUDEB/2023/01
Analysis Plan