Academic Debate: Improving Student Performance one Speech at a Time

Last registered on March 11, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Academic Debate: Improving Student Performance one Speech at a Time
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001965
Initial registration date
September 12, 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
September 13, 2017, 11:11 AM EDT

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

Last updated
March 11, 2024, 5:36 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Czechia
Region
Praha

Primary Investigator

Name
Lenka Fiala
Affiliation
University of Bergen
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-09-13
End date
2019-01-01
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
education, debate, tolerance, extremism, critical thinking, test scores
JEL code(s)
C93, I26
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This field experiment studies the impact of an introduction of academic debating aspects into high school curricula on the critical thinking of students. I hypothesize that the program improves general academic aptitudes such as reading or logical thinking skills, as measured by a standardized university entrance exam and a self-developed 'fake news test'. I test for possible negative effects of debating in the domain of (hyper)competitiveness. Additionally, I hypothesize that by debating both sides of issues students increase their open-mindedness and become more trusting of people who hold different opinions from themselves.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fiala, Lenka. 2024. "Academic Debate: Improving Student Performance one Speech at a Time." AEA RCT Registry. March 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1965-2.1
Former Citation
Fiala, Lenka. 2024. "Academic Debate: Improving Student Performance one Speech at a Time." AEA RCT Registry. March 11. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1965/history/214023
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
I introduce compulsory argumentation/debating workshops into high school curricula. I include both academic and vocational high schools into this experiment.
In this intervention, students go through a pre-test, four workshops with experienced debate coaches, and a post-test. During the school year, in between workshops, teachers are encouraged to use debate exercises in the curriculum for the treated classes.
As part of evaluation, students report on the debate coaches and workshops in general.
This program runs for one year and evaluation stretches for another semester.
Intervention Start Date
2017-09-13
Intervention End Date
2019-01-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Critical thinking
2. Competitiveness
3. Cooperativeness with people like/not like oneself
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
1. Critical thinking: percentile score from the GAP, a Czech standardized exam for high school students (as a refined measure, only percentile score from logical, argumentative, and verbal sections), and score on fake news test
2. Willigness to enter competition; self-reported view of competition (European Values Survey question); hyper-competitiveness self-report
3. Amount contributed to a public good in a 2-person public goods game

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
I randomize on the level of schools classes into treatment and control. Treated classes receive 4 workshops on argumentation and debating over the course of a school year, and teachers supplement them with additional exercises during a school year.
Both treatment and control classes complete a pre- and post-test.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Coin flip decides whether a class is treated; within each school, at least one class is treated and at least one is left as control; if there are multiple classes in the same year, again, at least one class is treated and at least one is left as control.
Randomization Unit
Randomization on classroom level; within each school, at least one class is treated and at least one is left as control; if there are multiple classes in the same year, again, at least one class is treated and at least one is left as control.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
12 schools, 37 classes total
Sample size: planned number of observations
37 classes; for some analyses 37*25 (average number of students) = 925 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
all schools have at least one class in treatment and one in control; for a total of 18 in treatment and 17 in control (where debating=treatment)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
MDES of approx. 0.47; assuming intraclass correlation of 0.25, percentage of variation explained by blocking 0.1 and by covariate 0.01, 4 clusters (classes) per school, and 25 students per class.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 01, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 01, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
30 classes
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
650 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
15 treated classes, 15 control classes
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials