Beliefs about Campus Politics and Implications for College Choice

Last registered on August 04, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Beliefs about Campus Politics and Implications for College Choice
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019269
Initial registration date
July 29, 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
August 04, 2026, 9:27 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
Paola Ugalde A.
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Emily Cook
PI Affiliation
Texas A & M
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PI Name
Riley Acton
PI Affiliation
Bowdoin College
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-07-30
End date
2026-08-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
College choice, beliefs, politics, higher education
JEL code(s)
I20, I23, J1
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
High school students often have limited information about the colleges they are considering, including the social and political environment on campus. This study examines whether providing high school students with factual information about the political leaning of the student body at a given college changes their beliefs about that college and their stated likelihood of applying to or enrolling there. Participants report their beliefs about several colleges and are then given information on the student body political composition of these colleges before reporting their beliefs again.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Acton, Riley , Emily Cook and Paola Ugalde A. . 2026. "Beliefs about Campus Politics and Implications for College Choice." AEA RCT Registry. August 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19269-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-07-30
Intervention End Date
2026-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcomes are changes (from before to after the information treatment) in respondents' beliefs about: (1) the political composition of the undergraduate student body at each college in their consideration set, measured as the perceived percentage of students who are politically liberal and politically conservative; (2) their percent chance of being accepted to each college; and (3) their percent chance of choosing to enroll at each college.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This study is a randomized survey experiment embedded within a broader survey of high school students on their beliefs about postsecondary education. Approximately 78% of survey respondents are randomly assigned to a survey module that includes this experiment; the remaining respondents complete a different module and are not part of this randomized experiment. Eligible participants first report their initial beliefs about a set of colleges, and are then randomly assigned to one of two groups. Approximately 70% of eligible participants are assigned to a treatment group that receives factual information on the political composition of the student body at each college, drawn from a third-party national survey. The remaining approximately 30% are assigned to a control group that receives placebo information unrelated to colleges. All participants then answer a short set of questions about the information they received and are asked to report their beliefs about the colleges a second time. This design allows us to compare belief updating and stated application/enrollment intentions between the treatment and control groups.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is conducted via Qualtrics' built-in random number generator.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the individual (survey respondent) level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 1,061
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment ≈ 743; Control ≈ 318
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NORC at the University of Chicago
IRB Approval Date
2026-07-09
IRB Approval Number
26-07-2686
Analysis Plan