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Trial End Date May 02, 2025 December 06, 2025
Last Published December 06, 2024 12:39 PM August 25, 2025 09:09 AM
Intervention (Public) This study is to be conducted in an introductory economics course (Principles of Macroeconomics) at a large, comprehensive research university. When grades are posted for the first and second exam in Principles of Macroeconomics, the course grader will send an email or Canvas message to each student providing: (1) their grade on the exam, (2) a link to the answer key for the exam, and (3) one of 3 randomly chosen messages: 1. (Treatment 1) Information on their Relative Performance Rank (i.e. percentile) on the exam 2. (Treatment 2) Information on their Relative Effort Rank (i.e. percentile) in the period prior to the exam 3. (Control) No Additional Information The Relative Performance Rank will be determined using actual test score distributions for the entire course. The Relative Effort Rank will be determined by an index measure generated using Canvas course analytics to capture relative course engagement. This study is to be conducted in an introductory economics course (Principles of Macroeconomics) at a large, comprehensive research university. When grades are posted for the first and second exam in Principles of Macroeconomics, the course grader will send an email or Canvas message to each student providing: (1) their grade on the exam, (2) a link to the answer key for the exam, and (3) one of 3 randomly chosen messages: 1. (Treatment 1) Information on their Relative Performance Rank (i.e. percentile) on the exam 2. (Treatment 2) Information on their Relative Effort Rank (i.e. percentile) in the period prior to the exam 3. (Control) No Additional Information The Relative Performance Rank will be determined using actual test score distributions for the entire course. The Relative Effort Rank will be determined by an index measure generated using Canvas course analytics to capture relative course engagement. REVISION: The information above applies to experiment run in Spring 2025 semester. For Fall 2025 semester, the study will be conducted in two introductory economics courses (Principles of Macroeconomics AND Principles of Microeconomics).
Intervention End Date May 02, 2025 December 06, 2025
Experimental Design (Public) Students in a large introductory economics course will receive an email after each exam containing information on their performance on the exam as well as some additional information on relative performance which varies by treatment arm. Students in large introductory economics courses will receive an email after each exam containing information on their performance on the exam as well as some additional information on relative performance which varies by treatment arm.
Randomization Unit Individual-exam Individual
Planned Number of Clusters 1200 students (approximation which depends on student enrollment) 1200 students (approximation which depends on student enrollment) Fall 2025: 2400 additional students (approximation which depends on student enrollment)
Planned Number of Observations 1200 students (approximation which depends on student enrollment) 1200 students (approximation which depends on student enrollment) Fall 2025: 2400 additional students (approximation which depends on student enrollment)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms 400 control, 400 treatment 1, 400 treatment 2 400 control, 400 treatment 1, 400 treatment 2 Fall 2025: additional 800 control, 800 treatment 1, 800 treatment 2
Secondary Outcomes (Explanation) Future course engagement refers to an index measure generated using Canvas course analytics to capture relative course engagement. Future course engagement refers to an index measure generated using Canvas course analytics to capture relative course engagement. Revision: Also refers to individual components of index measure.
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