Research Strategies in Academia

Last registered on August 14, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Research Strategies in Academia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013544
Initial registration date
May 02, 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
May 13, 2024, 11:53 AM EDT

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

Last updated
August 14, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Puneet Arora
Affiliation
Management Development Institute Gurgaon
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ishita Tripathi
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Khushi Trivedi
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2021-12-01
End date
2025-07-07
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Gender
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We analyze more than 6000 research articles published in top 104 peer-reviewed economics journals between October 2020 to March 2021 and document the co-authorship trends. We next conduct a survey with a randomly selected group of researchers (intended sample size of 250) to understand the underlying mechanisms driving such observed research strategies.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Arora, Puneet, Ishita Tripathi and Khushi Trivedi. 2025. "Research Strategies in Academia." AEA RCT Registry. August 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13544-1.4
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We ask participants their prior research strategy, perceived reasons for observed research strategy in over 6000 articles and their future intended research strategy.
Intervention (Hidden)
We conduct the experiment only with female researchers who are our target group for this study.

With control group, we ask them their past research strategy; their satisfaction level with that research strategy; their perceived reasons for why we observe the pattern of research strategy in those over 6000 articles where women tend to overwhelmingly coauthor (more than 70% of time) with men in majority or in same number as men; their intended future research strategy (next 5 years); and their perceived feasibility of a research scenario where women coauthor 50% of their research in solo, all women or women majority coauthored groups.

In the treatment group, before asking their intended research strategy for the future, we share with them the findings from Sarsons et al 2021 about the existence of statistical discrimination in tenure committee decisions where women when coauthoring with men are penalized in tenure decisions, while same does not happen for men. We want to see whether such information creates an effect on their intended future research strategy, and their guess about feasibility of a research world where women work 50% of their projects in solo, all women or women in majority groups.
Intervention Start Date
2024-05-02
Intervention End Date
2025-06-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Future intended research strategy
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Feasibility of a more balanced research strategy
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We use two kinds of survey, randomly assigned to participants, in order to understand the underlying reasons for their research strategy and their intended future research strategy.
Experimental Design Details
The treatment group female researchers received extra information on the findings in Sarsons et al 2021 on the existence of statistical bias against female researchers when working with men coauthors, not so much when working with women coauthors. This information is missing in the control group. We want to see how provision of such information influences their future intended research strategy.

Specifically, we inform treatment group the following extra:

Sarsons et al. (2021) examine the correlation between the gender of researchers and the recognition granted for collaborative work by tenure committees during tenure evaluations. Their findings indicate that for female economists, the gender of their co-authors plays a significant role in tenure decisions:

1. While solo-authored papers offer a clear indication of an individual's capabilities, those co-authored do not provide distinct insights into each contributor's competencies.
2. They observe that women face a penalty when collaborating with co-authors, a phenomenon not experienced by men. This penalty is most pronounced when women co-author with men and diminishes as the number of women on a paper increases.
Randomization Method
Done using stata
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
250 final observation (but given that not everyone responds to a voluntary and unincentivized survey, we will have to send the survey to many more)
Sample size: planned number of observations
250
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
125 each
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MDI Gurgaon
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-24
IRB Approval Number
MDI IRB 2024-03
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
July 07, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
July 07, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
233
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
233
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
120 in Control and 113 in Treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials