Potential Adverse Effect of Exposure to Females: An Analysis of a Microscopic Peer Relationship in Teacher Evaluation

Last registered on June 30, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Potential Adverse Effect of Exposure to Females: An Analysis of a Microscopic Peer Relationship in Teacher Evaluation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016301
Initial registration date
June 27, 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
June 30, 2025, 6:05 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Hungary
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Tamas Keller
Affiliation
Research Center for Educational and Network Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences; TÁRKI Social Research Institute, Budapest
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-04-16
End date
2026-06-30
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
gender peer effect, vignette experiment
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Girls are widely believed to deliver beneficial peer effects due to their higher school performance, greater effort, and better school behavior. This project explores a potential negative peer effect of being exposed to girls in a microscopic peer relationship that is present in nearly every educational setting: being evaluated immediately after a girl.

The study asks how teacher evaluation of a focal student differs when this student is assessed after a female student. This is a relevant research question, as teachers often evaluate students’ written assignments sequentially, one after the other.

It is hypothesized that being evaluated after a female student raises teachers’ evaluation standards, potentially lowering the grade received by the focal student.

The hypothesis is tested in a vignette study in which teachers evaluated six students’ essays, randomized as good, average, or poor quality. The gender of each student was visible via first names, randomly assigned to be either male or female with equal probability. The gender of each vignette student was randomized with replacement, meaning there was no predetermined sequence or pattern between the focal student and the one evaluated before or after.

By regressing the teacher-assigned grade on the focal student’s gender and the gender of the student evaluated immediately before (the treatment), we can identify whether the previously evaluated student’s gender influences the evaluation of the focal student.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Keller, Tamas. 2025. "Potential Adverse Effect of Exposure to Females: An Analysis of a Microscopic Peer Relationship in Teacher Evaluation." AEA RCT Registry. June 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16301-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The treatment is the gender of the student previously evaluated by the same teacher, coded as 1 if the student was a girl and 0 if the student was a boy.
Intervention Start Date
2025-04-16
Intervention End Date
2025-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The outcome variable is teacher-assigned writing grades assessed on the traditional five-point academic scale: excellent (5), good (4), average (3), satisfactory (2), and unsatisfactory (1).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In the vignette study, teachers evaluate six students’ essays, randomized as good, average, or poor quality. The gender of each student was visible via first names, randomly assigned to be either male or female with equal probability. The gender of each vignette student was randomized with replacement, meaning there was no predetermined sequence or pattern between the focal student and the one evaluated before or after.

Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
randomly generated number
Randomization Unit
vignette students
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The goal is to collect responses from 200 to 500 teachers.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The goal is to collect responses from 200 to 500 teachers, with each teacher evaluating six fictitious students. This will result in a total sample of 1,200 to 3,000 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Each teacher will evaluate 6 vignette students.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
With answers from 200 teachers, the minimum detectable effect size is about 16% of a standard deviation. Once the sample size exceeds 500 teachers, the minimum detectable effect size drops below 10% of a standard deviation.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
HUN-REN KRTK
IRB Approval Date
2024-11-10
IRB Approval Number
1 FŐIG/ 76-1/ 2024
Analysis Plan

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