Incentivizing Self-Control

Last registered on March 25, 2017

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Incentivizing Self-Control

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002089

Initial registration date

March 13, 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 13, 2017, 5:18 PM EDT

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

Last updated

March 25, 2017, 9:32 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Sweden

Region

Skåne

Primary Investigator

Name

Pol Campos-Mercade

Affiliation

Lund University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2017-03-28

End date

2017-08-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

Behavioral economics, Self-control, Goal-setting

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

We give students the possibility to select a goal grade for their course. Students are told that if they reach their goal grade or higher, they will be paid a prize. We will compare the chosen goals with their past grades and with the goals selected by another group of students who are not incentivized. Finally, we will test whether such incentivized goals have any impact in the students' course performance with respect to a group that chose non-incentivized goals and a control group.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Campos-Mercade, Pol. 2017. "Incentivizing Self-Control." AEA RCT Registry. March 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2089-2.0

Former Citation

Campos-Mercade, Pol. 2017. "Incentivizing Self-Control." AEA RCT Registry. March 25. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2089/history/15449

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2017-03-28

Intervention End Date

2017-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Selected goal grade and course performance.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

We will calculate "course performance" by controlling for the grades of the exams and assignments of the students' previous course. Given the information that we have from every student, we will use the non-treated students to find the best way to predict the student's "expected grade". Once we assign an "expected grade" to each student we will calculate:
Course performance = actual grade - expected grade

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

After a regular class, we will divide students between three groups: control, goal and incentivized goal. Those students in the control group will read a brief paragraph about the importance of studying. Students in the goal group will be encouraged to select a goal grade for their exam. Students in the incentivized goal group will be encouraged to select a goal grade for their exam. If they reach such goal they will be paid a prize. After this, all students will be required to fill a questionnaire. In the questionnaire we will gather information about the students' academic goals, study habits, risk and time preferences, and self-control problems. During the following week, the students will receive an e-mail that thanks them for their participation and, if applicable, informs them about their decision during the experiment.
After the students have taken the final exam, they will receive an online survey that they have to fill in order to receive the final payment.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Public lottery

Randomization Unit

Student

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Two classes

Sample size: planned number of observations

Around 225 students (depending on those who decide to participate).

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

50 students in the control group (C)
75 students in the goal group (G)
100 students in the incentivized goal group (IG)

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

For the C and G groups we expect an average of 0/100 and a standard deviation of 10. For there to be a detectable effect size we need the IG group to present an average of 4/100 points or more.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB