Combining deadlines and reminders

Last registered on March 26, 2025

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Combining deadlines and reminders
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015629
Initial registration date
March 24, 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, 9:50 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
RWTH Aachen University and University of Essex

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
LMU Munich
PI Affiliation
LMU Munich

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-09-01
End date
2026-02-27
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Many people struggle to complete long-term projects, such as learning a new language or acquiring a new technical skill. Two major underlying frictions that prevent the completion of long-term projects are procrastination and forgetting. In theory, procrastination and forgetting can be mitigated with deadlines and reminders. However, for individuals who procrastinate and forget, only a deadline or only a reminder might not suffice to induce project completion. Based on a theoretical framework, our project empirically assesses the effectiveness of combining reminders and deadlines when multiple tasks need to be completed. We will conduct a field experiment in the context of agricultural education that will generate detailed data to study the effects on course progression, dynamics towards course completion, and learning outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cordes, Charlotte, Lisa Spantig and Andrej Woerner. 2025. "Combining deadlines and reminders." AEA RCT Registry. March 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15629-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-01
Intervention End Date
2025-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
enagement as measued by i) course progression and ii) course completion
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants study a remote-learning course of their choice. We randomly assign participants to one of five treatment arms: control, reminders, deadlines, reminders and deadlines, and choice.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stratified randomization based on behavioral types (high/low procrastination and high/low forgetfulness) done by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
4,000 individuals (i.e., no clustering)
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
800
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics committee, Department of Economics, LMU Munich
IRB Approval Date
2024-06-03
IRB Approval Number
2024-11