Union Membership in the Education Sector

Last registered on April 16, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Union Membership in the Education Sector
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013327
Initial registration date
April 09, 2024

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
April 16, 2024, 2:43 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Morgan Foy
Affiliation
UC-Berkeley Haas
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-04-09
End date
2024-05-30
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Public-sector unions cannot mandate membership in the US and yet over two-thirds of teachers are still unionized as of recent data. This study explores the factors which influence an individual's decision to join the union in the education sector.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Foy, Morgan. 2024. "Union Membership in the Education Sector." AEA RCT Registry. April 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13327-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-09
Intervention End Date
2024-05-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Beliefs about unions, intention to participate
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Respondents will be randomized into treatment and control groups, where the treatment group will receive additional information regarding unions. The control group will not receive this additional information.
Experimental Design Details
First, I elicit workers’ prior beliefs regarding the share of workers in their district who they believe are union members by asking “What percentage of teachers in your school district do you think were members of the teachers’ union last year?”

I then randomize survey respondents into either a treatment or control group. The respondents in the treatment group receive the following information: “Our best estimate is that X% of teachers in your school district were members of the teachers’ union last year.”
In place of the “X%” respondents will see a number between 0 and 100 which lists the truthful estimate of the percentage of members in the teacher’s school district.

Next, both groups receive the same message: “What percentage of teachers in your school district do you think will be members next year?” This provides a measure of posterior beliefs; the expectation is that treatment group members will update their beliefs in the direction of the provided estimate.
Randomization Method
Qualtrics randomizer tool
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
n/a
Sample size: planned number of observations
5,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2,500 control, 2,500 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
UC-Berkeley Committee for Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2024-04-09
IRB Approval Number
2022-04-15229
Analysis Plan

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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