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Individual versus group work

Last registered on April 22, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Individual versus group work
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015798
Initial registration date
April 15, 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
April 22, 2025, 9:33 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Alexander Coutts
Affiliation
York University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sukran Dinc
PI Affiliation
York University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-04-18
End date
2025-05-30
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Lab
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Collaboration is essential in education and the workplace but introduces challenges related to uncertainty and unequal recognition, particularly in evaluating individual contributions. Preferences for working collaboratively or independently may vary by gender, performance, and perceptions of bias, with evidence suggesting women often receive less credit in team settings. This experiment investigates both individuals’ preferences for collaboration and evaluators’ decisions in assessing performance. Participants choose between working alone or in teams, while evaluators select among candidates with different work modes. Two experimental conditions manipulate the visibility of gender to assess its impact on evaluation outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Coutts, Alexander and Sukran Dinc. 2025. "Individual versus group work." AEA RCT Registry. April 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15798-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The study investigates (i) individuals’ preferences to work in a pair versus individually and (ii) third-party evaluations of individual performance based on observed output. In the gender treatment, evaluators hear voices that reveal the gender of participants; in the baseline, voices are gender-neutral. Full details are described in the attached pre-analysis plan.
Intervention Start Date
2025-04-18
Intervention End Date
2025-05-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Workers' choice to work individually vs. in a pair.
Workers’ willingness to pay to override an assigned (non-preferred) work arrangement.
Workers’ contribution weight when forming a pair score.
Evaluators' selection: whether they choose an individual worker or a worker from a pair.
Evaluators' selection between paired workers (based on certificate type and gender).
See the pre-analysis plan for operationalizations and measurement procedures.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This is a two-part, incentivized online experiment. In Experiment 1, participants (“workers”) decide whether to work individually or in a pair on a Raven’s test, and how much influence to exert over the pair's score if paired. In Experiment 2, another group of participants (“evaluators”) chooses among three past workers (1 solo, 2 paired) based on observable scores, certificates, and voice cues. Treatments vary whether gender is revealed and whether the assignment to individual/pair work was endogenous (participant-selected) or exogenous (random). Full experimental details and protocols are included in the pre-analysis plan.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is conducted by computer using Qualtrics' built-in randomization logic, based on pre-assigned quotas and random number generators.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the individual participant. Workers and evaluators are randomized into treatment conditions independently. Matching occurs at the individual level but constrained by pre-specified treatment cells (e.g., gender visibility, certificate type, endogenous/exogenous assignment).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable (individual-level randomization only).
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,800 total participants: 1,600 workers (800 in gender treatment, 800 in baseline). 1,200 evaluators (800 in gender treatment, 400 in baseline). Sample size by may vary slightly due to random assignment procedure.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Workers: 800 in gender treatment (400 men, 400 women); 800 in baseline (400 men, 400 women).
Evaluators: 800 in gender treatment (400 men, 400 women); 400 in baseline (200 men, 200 women).
All cells are further cross-randomized with endogenous/exogenous assignment (approx. 50/50 split).
Sample size by treatment may vary slightly due to random assignment procedure.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
York University Office of Research Ethics
IRB Approval Date
2023-09-07
IRB Approval Number
e2023-282
Analysis Plan