The role of Universities

Last registered on June 04, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The role of Universities
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015058
Initial registration date
December 19, 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
December 20, 2024, 8:22 PM EST

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

Last updated
June 04, 2025, 10:32 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Michele Belot
Affiliation
Cornell University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lea Cassar
PI Affiliation
University of Regensburg
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Karoline Strohlein
PI Affiliation
University of Regensburg
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-12-19
End date
2025-01-31
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Views on Institutions, Views on Role of Universities
JEL code(s)
I23
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Our study aims at investigating public views of the role of universities in society. Specifically, we are interested in gauging perceptions of the role of universities beyond their core mission of education and research and in relation to societal issues such as environmental sustainability, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and free speech. We are interested in comparing how views differ across demographic groups (split according to gender, education level and political orientation) and in comparing the perceived role of universities relative to private corporations. We will conduct a study on Prolific with a representative sample of 2,000 respondents: 1,500 will answer a survey focusing on universities and 500 will answer a survey focused on corporations. Views will be elicited using non-incentivized questions (for both samples) and incentivized questions (Universities only).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Belot, Michele, Lea Cassar and Karoline Strohlein. 2025. "The role of Universities." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15058-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The study includes an experiment where participants will be asked to allocate an amount of money between two universities. They will be asked to make 5 allocation decisions, randomly drawn out of a sample of 22 different combinations of pair of unies (see attached document 'Scenarios').
The variations in scenarios will help us to identify how various dimensions of performance causally affect allocation decisions. The scenarios correspond to different ‘treatments’. See PAP for full details on the analysis strategy.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-12-19
Intervention End Date
2025-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Self-reported views and allocation decisions (full details in the attached pre-analysis plan)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will conduct two separate surveys: a first survey will be focused on Universities and a second survey will be focused on large corporations (see attached documents). The survey will be conducted with a sample of 2,000 individuals drawn from the platform Prolific, representative on the following dimensions: age, gender, and political affiliation.

The surveys will be structured as follows:
Survey 1
Focus: Universities
Part 1: Self-reported views on role of universities across different domains
Part 2: Incentivized allocation task experiment
Part 3: Self-reported views on role of institutions, views on societal issues (such as climate change) and Demographic information
Survey 2
Focus: Companies
Part 1: Self-reported views on role of universities across different domains
Part 3: Self-reported views on role of institutions, views on societal issues (such as climate change) and Demographic information

Part 2 allows us to elicit views on how much people value the performance of universities on different dimensions (academic performance, DEI, sustainability and free speech) in an incentivized manner, using publicly available information on rankings and scores. There is no comparable information available for corporations on the same dimensions, so we will implement this part for universities.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done via Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2,000 individuals (1,500 answering survey related to Universities, 500 answering survey related to Companies)
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 individuals, and 6,000 allocation decisions for Survey 1, part 2
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,500 individuals will make 5 choices in Survey 1, part 2. We will cluster the regression analysis by individual
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See pre-analysis plan for full detail
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Cornell Office of Research Integrity and Assurance
IRB Approval Date
2024-12-09
IRB Approval Number
IRB0149286
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis Plan

MD5: 30863e316eed1698411d71354666e401

SHA1: bdc6a226a781b0dda09501e1b039604d6ecadc71

Uploaded At: December 19, 2024

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