From Education to Extremism? Exploring Madrassa Identity and Its Implications

Last registered on January 17, 2025

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
From Education to Extremism? Exploring Madrassa Identity and Its Implications
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015215
Initial registration date
January 16, 2025

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 17, 2025, 7:30 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
New York University (AD)

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Monash University
PI Affiliation
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-08-01
End date
2024-01-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Schools worldwide play a key role in both imparting cognitive skills and shaping students’ values, identity, and behavior. Using a novel lab-in-the-field experiment with Madrassa (religious schools) students in Pakistan, we causally examine the impact of Madrassa identity on extremist attitudes, comparing results across economic strata. We find that Madrassa identity exacerbates extremism among poorer students but mitigates it among wealthier ones, driving both groups toward collective norms. Our results challenge simplified narratives linking madrassas to extremism and offer nuanced insights into the intersection of economic deprivation, identity, and radicalization.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Belanger, Jocelyn, Rafat Mahmood and Samreen Malik. 2025. "From Education to Extremism? Exploring Madrassa Identity and Its Implications." AEA RCT Registry. January 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15215-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We ask the subjects to read a text and then answer questions about that text. The contents of the text vary depending on whether the subjects are in the madrassa identity condition (treatment) or neutral identity treatment (control). In the treatment, the subjects read a text describing the profile of a typical madrassa student while in the control condition, they read the profile of a student not related to madrassas. After reading the eight-sentence paragraph about the profile, the subjects answer seven questions about the profile. To ensure that the subjects brace the identity talked about in the text, the last question for the subjects in the treatment group asked them to relate their experience as a madrassa student with the context in the paragraph.
For a subsample, we also ask then to read a text for religious identity condition (religion treatment).
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2023-08-01
Intervention End Date
2024-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Extremism
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Continuous variable of Extremism by the support for terrorist organization
Binary variables of any level of Support for Extremism And Extreme Support for terrorist organization

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Psychological Games (Astroblaster & Facemorph)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Subjects are primed using text reading and answering questions about the text. This is a priming-based lab in the field. The text can be about Madrassa or a student, Student of Religion of Neutral Prime (Literary student).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
3 madrassas and 3 universities
Sample size: planned number of observations
450
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
450
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Since our randomization is at an individual level, it is simple to estimate the minimum detectable effect given our sample size. The ratio of the sample size for Madrassa prime and the neutral prime is 0.75. Using the desired power of 0.8 and significance level of 0.05, we can estimate the minimum detectable effect of 0.13 SD while accounting for covariates\footnote{Our covariates include: age, income, any other family member associated with Madrassa, family size, index for obsession with Islam, Big 5 personality traits, future expected income and employment, mental health and life satisfaction.} which reduce the residual variance of the outcome variables. Our minimum detectable effect is between the range of 0.1 -- 0.2 SD and it is considered relatively small.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
New York University Abu Dhabi
IRB Approval Date
2022-05-28
IRB Approval Number
HRPP-2022-80

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
January 01, 2024, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 01, 2024, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials