Barriers to Retraining

Last registered on May 06, 2026

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Barriers to Retraining

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0018530

Initial registration date

May 01, 2026

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

May 06, 2026, 10:59 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

Name

Sandra Goff

Affiliation

Bates College

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Caroline Noblet

PI Affiliation

University of Maine

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Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2026-05-26

End date

2026-06-09

Keywords

Behavior, Other, Post-conflict

Additional Keywords

AI, job retraining

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We implement an online economic experiment to examine workers’ willingness to learn new skills and to identify potential barriers to retraining. The study is conducted via CloudResearch Connect with 500 participants targeted from states which lead in both forest cover and rurality - Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Alabama - to allow us to compare the behaviors of rural, suburban, and urban participants. Participants first engage in a set of tasks in which they encode words using a Caesar cipher. They are then offered the opportunity to engage in a new, more difficult task that involves the acquisition of a new skill, coding in Python. Finally, participants answer a survey about AI attitudes and perceptions as well as answer sociodemographic questions.

This work attempts to better understand how new technology (AI) impacts the existing workforce and whether rurality impacts technology adoption. We also investigate job loss expectations to AI, main concerns of AI (employment impacts, forced retraining, environmental), and perceived skills mismatch.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Goff, Sandra and Caroline Noblet. 2026. "Barriers to Retraining." AEA RCT Registry. May 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18530-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The primary intervention in this study is the introduction of a learning opportunity, with or without a piece rate bonus.

Intervention Start Date

2026-05-26

Intervention End Date

2026-06-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Outcome 1: Acceptance of new learning opportunity
Outcome 2: Completion of new learning opportunity
Outcome 3: Number of tasks completed correctly

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Participant Recruitment:
The online survey experiment will be conducted via CloudResearch Connect. We intend to include 500 participants targeted from states which lead in both forest cover and rurality - Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Alabama - to allow for comparisons across rural, suburban, and urban populations.

Experimental Design Overview:
STEP 1: Consent
STEP 2: Participants complete a set of encoding tasks using a Caesar cipher.
STEP 3: Participants are then asked if they would like to learn a new task - a brief intro to coding that will allow them to encode the words more quickly - or continue to encode manually using a new cipher. Half of the participants receive this learning opportunity with a higher piece rate and half are not offered higher compensation.
STEP 4: Participants either continue to complete the initial task or the new task, depending on their choice
STEP 5: Participants complete a survey re: AI perceptions, confidence, etc.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization to the increased piece rate condition is performed by the Qualtrics software

Randomization Unit

Individual, however, participants are clustered by state and rurality (rural or suburban or urban) before random assignment to the treatment within these clusters to ensure balanced numbers of treated participants in each subgroup

Was the treatment clustered?