Social Identity and Aspirations

Last registered on January 14, 2014

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Identity and Aspirations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000215
First published
January 14, 2014, 2:36 PM EST

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

Last updated
January 14, 2014, 2:43 PM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
College of William and Mary

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2013-09-16
End date
2014-07-10
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This study will explore whether, and to what extent one’s social identity affects one's aspirations (as captured by a one’s short and long term goals), beliefs about future outcomes as well as real short run outcomes. Secondly, it will investigate how the salience of one’s caste or gender identity affects a parent's beliefs about, and goals for her child, and how this affects the latter’s eventual (short run) outcomes. The study design will also allow us to investigate the effects of setting goals itself on short run outcomes.
The experiment will be conducted across nineteen villages in Pali district, Rajasthan. Short run goals, beliefs and outcomes will be studied in the context of extra Math classes being run in grades 6 to 8 by volunteer teachers. The implementing partner is the NGO, Educate Girls.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mukherjee, Priya. 2014. "Social Identity and Aspirations." AEA RCT Registry. January 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.215-2.0
Former Citation
Mukherjee, Priya. 2014. "Social Identity and Aspirations." AEA RCT Registry. January 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/215/history/894
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2014-01-13
Intervention End Date
2014-04-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Short and long-run goals, short and long-run beliefs, as well as short run outcomes (test scores).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment will involve declarations of long and short-run goals and expectations made by subjects, with and without having the subject’s social identity (i.e., caste or gender) primed. Subjects constitute children in grades 6, 7 and 8, as well as child-parent pairs in a subset of treatments, where parents' aspirations for, and beliefs about their children's outcomes will be recorded. A pure control group consists of subjects who are neither primed nor asked about short run goals or beliefs.
Subjects will set short run goals over multiple periods and short run outcomes will be recorded at the end of each period.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment will involve declarations of long and short-run goals/aspirations and expectations made by subjects, with and without priming the subject’s social identity (i.e., caste or gender). Following Benjamin et al (2010), caste or gender will be primed by administering a questionnaire that asks questions related to the individual’s caste (or gender) identity. In the groups where identity is not manipulated, a neutral questionnaire will be administered.

The experiment will be implemented over multiple “periods” across two months, where each period is about ten days long, during which the NGO will conduct extra Math classes at school. A “goal” (related to test scores and homework completion in the Math class) will be set and beliefs will be elicited at the beginning of each period, followed by a test after about a week/ten days. Subjects will receive test scores, followed immediately by goal setting (and elicited beliefs) for the next test.
Long term goals and expectations (or beliefs) will be those related to choice of own (or child's) career, types and number of assets they desire and believe they will own in the future, the level of education they would like (and expect) to obtain etc.
Children selected for the study will be randomly assigned to one of the treatment (or control) groups listed below. The treatments will be stratified by gender, grade, caste category and school using enrollment data collected from school rosters.

- Group 1: Subjects set goals and reveal beliefs about outcomes after caste (jaati/samaj) is primed
o A) Subjects constitute children
o B) Subjects constitute child-parent pairs (joint goals and beliefs will be elicited from this group)
- Group 2: Subjects set goals and reveal beliefs about outcomes after gender is primed
o A) Subjects constitute children
o B) Subjects constitute child-parent pairs (joint goals and beliefs will be elicited from this group)
- Group 3: Subjects set goals and reveal beliefs about outcomes (no priming – a neutral questionnaire is administered)
o A) Subjects constitute children
o B) Subjects constitute child-parent pairs (joint goals and beliefs will be elicited from this group)
- Group 4: Control group (no goals and no priming)

It is important to note that goal setting itself might have an effect on goals and education outcomes. Comparing groups 3 and 4 gives us the effect that goal setting itself might have. In addition, a comparison of groups A and B gives us the effect of joint goal-setting with a parent. Comparing groups 1A and 1B (and similarly, 2A and 2B) tells us how caste (or gender) identity affects adults’ aspirations for their children and how this influences joint decisions.

Randomization Method
Randomization has been done by a computer, using STATA
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1015 students in grades 6,7,8
Sample size: planned number of observations
1015 students in grades 6,7,8
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
145 students per treatment (or control) group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Cornell University, Office of Research Integrity and Assurance, IRB
IRB Approval Date
2013-09-13
IRB Approval Number
1303003769

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