Financial incentives, commitment and study planning: improving academic progress through a communication intervention

Last registered on March 26, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Financial incentives, commitment and study planning: improving academic progress through a communication intervention
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015515
Initial registration date
March 18, 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
March 26, 2025, 8:38 AM EDT

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

Locations

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

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Siv-Elisabeth Skjelbred
Affiliation
NIFU
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Simone Häckl-Schermer
PI Affiliation
University of Stavanger
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Andreas Fidjeland
PI Affiliation
University of Stavanger
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-03-16
End date
2026-06-01
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Many students struggle to achieve their intended academic progress, often opting to withdraw from courses, miss exams or fail to pass them. Research highlights that young and inexperienced decision-makers face numerous psychological and behavioral barriers that hinder goal attainment. Procrastination is one such barrier which is both prevalent and associated with poorer academic performance and academic failure. This pre-analysis plan outlines a pilot intervention, developed in collaboration with the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund (SELF), to examine whether targeted communication can support students in adhering to their academic plans.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fidjeland, Andreas , Simone Häckl-Schermer and Siv-Elisabeth Skjelbred. 2025. "Financial incentives, commitment and study planning: improving academic progress through a communication intervention." AEA RCT Registry. March 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15515-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is conducted with a random subset of a cohort of first-year university students from the entire Norway. Students are approached in their second semester of their studies. In all experimental groups students receive at least one letter from SELF and information about the incentives embedded into the student financing system in April 2025. Treatment group 3 and treatment group 4 in addition receive an additional letter in March, 2025.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-16
Intervention End Date
2025-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We consider the following set of outcomes at the end of the first study year:
- Grade average
- The number of passed course credits
- Number of exams the students failed, failed to meet for an exam or signed off from a course.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
To investigate how students’ well-being is affected by the intervention, we study effects on academic stress (Murberg & Bru 2004), goal achievement (self-developed) and perceived preparedness (self-developed). We will also calculate a summary index of the well-being measures.

We also measure a set of potential mechanisms:
- perceived importance (self-developed)
- performance in line with expectations (self-developed)
- Study techniques (self-developed)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Students are randomly allocated to the four treatment groups and the control group
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Pure random assignment using Stata
Randomization Unit
student
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
5000 students
Sample size: planned number of observations
5000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
T1: 300
T2: 300
T3: 300
T4: 300
Control group (T0): 3800
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
HHUiS-IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-01-16
IRB Approval Number
HHUiS-IRB-2025-002
Analysis Plan