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Role of Beliefs on Study Effort

Last registered on June 01, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Role of Beliefs and Information on Study Effort and Performance
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001775
Initial registration date
March 17, 2017

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 19, 2017, 11:58 AM EDT

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

Last updated
June 01, 2017, 2:14 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Chicago

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2016-06-15
End date
2017-09-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract

Study effort is one of the most important determinants of student performance. Are students aware of how effort translates into performance? And if they are not, can we inform them about this relationship to change their study behavior and outcomes? Through a framed field experiment, this project aims to answer these questions in the context of an online language-learning platform.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ersoy, Fulya. 2017. "Role of Beliefs and Information on Study Effort and Performance." AEA RCT Registry. June 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1775-2.0
Former Citation
Ersoy, Fulya. 2017. "Role of Beliefs and Information on Study Effort and Performance." AEA RCT Registry. June 01. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1775/history/18198
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Stage 1: Participants in Stage 1 are induced to exert different levels of effort depending on their random group assignment.

Stage 2: Participants are randomly assigned in one of the 5 groups: Participants in the control arm do not receive information. Participants in treatment arms are provided with information about the effect of effort on performance for Stage 1 participants. Depending on which treatment arm they are, they get somewhat different information.
Intervention Start Date
2017-01-02
Intervention End Date
2017-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The beliefs about how effort affects performance

How many lessons completed during the study period (effort measure)

Improvement in test scores (Will be measured as the difference between final test score and initial test score)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Stage 1: Measuring the Causal Relationship Between Effort and Performance
In Stage 1, participants first complete an initial survey and take an online assessment test. The main aim of the survey is to collect demographic information about participants. The test assesses their initial level of knowledge of Spanish. Participants then sign up for an online language-learning platform. Participants are randomly allocated to online classrooms with different assignment levels. After studying through the platform as assigned for one month, they take another online test that assesses their final level of knowledge and they answer a short survey about their study behavior.

Stage 2: Eliciting and Changing Beliefs about How Effort Affects Performance
In Stage 2, participants first complete the initial survey and take the online assessment test. They then sign up for the same online language-learning platform. Every week, they complete a survey eliciting their beliefs about the importance of study effort on determining performance. After the first belief elicitation survey, a random subset of the participants receives information regarding the effect of the study effort on performance, which is based on the information collected in Stage 1 whereas the others do not receive such information. Participants in Stage 2 are free to study through the platform as much as they like for one month. At the end of study period, they take the final test and answer a short end survey about their study patterns.
Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer using the "https://www.random.org" website.
Randomization Unit
Randomization unit is the individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600 participants
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Stage 1: 150 participants
Effort Group 1: 30
Effort Group 2: 30
Effort Group 3: 30
Effort Group 4: 30
Effort Group 5: 30

Stage 2: 450 participants
No Information: 75 (12 not incentivized for belief questions, 63 incentivized for belief questions)
Information Group 1a and 1b : 150 (24 not incentivized for belief questions, 126 incentivized for belief questions)
Information Group 2: 75 (12 not incentivized for belief questions, 63 incentivized for belief questions)
Information Group 3: 150 (24 not incentivized for belief questions, 126 incentivized for belief questions)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Stanford University
IRB Approval Date
2017-01-13
IRB Approval Number
36512

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials