Financial incentives, time management, and academic outcomes among undergraduate students

Last registered on January 03, 2025

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Financial incentives, time management, and academic outcomes among undergraduate students
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015099
Initial registration date
December 31, 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
January 02, 2025, 7:33 AM EST

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

Last updated
January 03, 2025, 10:11 PM EST

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

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
RIEM,Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
UCL
PI Affiliation
Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
PI Affiliation
SWUFE

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-10-15
End date
2025-05-01
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Financial incentives are known to motivate students to work harder, but their impact on intrinsic motivation remains uncertain. In this study, students were randomly assigned to a control group or one of two treatment groups. The first group (T1) used a time-management app with a voluntary check-in feature, while the second group (T2) used the same app but received financial rewards based on their check-in activity. The intervention included one pre-incentive week followed by two incentive weeks, during which the app recorded participants' activity. Prior to the incentive phase, students in the treatment groups were asked about their demand for a commitment device. When the access to students' academic outcomes are available, we will examine whether the time-management app (T1) helps students overcome self-control problems and whether financial incentives (T2) , as a form of extrinsic motivation, enhance this effort or undermine intrinsic motivation.







External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Carneiro, Pedro et al. 2025. "Financial incentives, time management, and academic outcomes among undergraduate students." AEA RCT Registry. January 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15099-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
T1: Provides a time-management Buddy app with a check-in feature, encouraging students to record the start time of their daily study sessions.
T2: Provides the same time-management Buddy app, on top of that, we offer them financial incentive for good time-management in two incentive weeks, with a maximum reward of 200RMB (about 30USD)
C: Nothing





Intervention Start Date
2023-12-04
Intervention End Date
2025-01-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Academic outcomes, Daily study start time, Demand for a commitment device for time management
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Academic Outcomes: Administrative records reflecting average scores on a 100-point scale.
Daily study start time: record in the time management app, for example, daily dummy variables about check or not, early or later
Demand for commitment device: a dummy variables indicating whether a student demand for this commitment device for time management

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Time use
Delayed gratification
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Time use : self-reported time use on study, reading and leisure
Delayed gratification: choice over receiving 100 now or 105/110 later

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Recruitment: The sample pool consists of university students from low-income families. Invitation messages were sent out, and 470 students applied to participate.

Sample: 300 students were randomized into two treatment groups, T1 and T2, with 150 students in each group, while the remaining 170 students were assigned to the control group.

Data collection: We rely on Administrative records (students’ final grades) to measure academic outcomes. However, for certain students, such as those in their first year, valid grade data for this period was unavailable.

Baseline and endline surveys were conducted only for the 300 treated students, with the baseline administered before the incentivized (T2) record period and the endline after. We also collect endline survey from the control group, but the response rate was lower for this group.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
470 students
Sample size: planned number of observations
470 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
150 in T1, 150 in T2,170 Incontrol
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number