Information Intervention and College Choices

Last registered on June 25, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information Intervention and College Choices
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013855
Initial registration date
June 20, 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
June 25, 2024, 10:47 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
China
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Yujie Han
Affiliation
Jinan University, China
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Shuaizhang Feng
PI Affiliation
Jinan University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Chao Fu
PI Affiliation
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-12-01
End date
2024-10-31
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
College Major Choice, Information Friction, Labor Market Returns
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
College and major choices have important implications for one’s labor market outcomes. These choices are often hampered by information friction. We conduct a randomized experiment in Southwest China on Grade-12 students before they apply for colleges in the centralized application procedure, which requires a student to apply for specific college-major pairs. The experiment provides treated students with information on expected wages or noncognitive skill requirements of jobs held by college workers of various majors. We investigate the extent to which students’ beliefs are biased and how information intervention can affect their college-major choices.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Feng, Shuaizhang, Chao Fu and Yujie Han. 2024. "Information Intervention and College Choices." AEA RCT Registry. June 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13855-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is conducted in collaboration with three local high schools in a Southwestern Chinese city. These schools have agreed to participate. We will present major-specific information to 12th-graders in these schools before they apply for colleges and majors. The intervention allows us to investigate the extent to which students’ beliefs are biased and how information on expected earnings and/or worker-job match of non-cognitive skills can affect college-major choices.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-19
Intervention End Date
2024-07-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
College-major applications and admissions.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In China, students take the college-entrance exam at the end of the 12th grade. Then after around half month, they will know the score of the exam and apply for colleges and majors in a centralized application procedure, which requires a student to apply for specific college-major pairs. The experiment is conducted online. The students in the three participating high schools can access the information at any time with their unique username and password. We will give them the login information and remind the students to visit the website around 100 days before they take the entrance exam (when they are at the beginning of their last semester in high school). After they take the exam and know their score of the exam for college-major application, we will remind them again. We will track the time and how many times they visit the website.
On the website, we first use a survey to ask students about their intended majors, the primary reasons for considering these majors, and their expectations on the wage and noncognitive skills required for the corresponding future jobs.
Each of the three high schools have around 14 classes in Grade 12. We randomly assign students into treatment groups and a control group. There are two treatment arms of this intervention: (1) In the wage information treatment arm, student receive information on average wage by each relevant major; (2) In the noncognitive skill requirement information treatment arm, student receive information on average chance of requiring each dimension of noncognitive skills by each relevant major. The control group receives no intervention.
The information collected from this experiment will be merged to students’ information (demographics, high-school performance, non-cognitive skill information collected in a previous survey) and their final college-major application data for our analysis of the experiment results.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done on a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clustering
Sample size: planned number of observations
Roughly 2,000 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Roughly 666 students will be randomly assigned into each of the two treatment arms and 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
Institutional Review Board of Social Sciences and Humanities, Jinan University
IRB Approval Date
2024-03-20
IRB Approval Number
IRB No.A2403004-035
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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