Motivations to Major in Economics

Last registered on September 14, 2020

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Motivations to Major in Economics

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002745

Initial registration date

September 14, 2018

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 21, 2018, 12:18 AM EDT

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

Last updated

September 14, 2020, 1:43 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Oregon

Primary Investigator

Name

Todd Pugatch

Affiliation

Oregon State University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Elizabeth Schroeder

PI Affiliation

Oregon State University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2018-09-20

End date

2019-10-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

college major choice, gender gap in Economics, higher education, nudges, randomized control trial

JEL code(s)

I21, I23

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Why do students major in Economics? Why is the proportion of women who study Economics so low? This study will assess whether students respond to messages about majoring in Economics, and whether this response varies by student gender. The experiment will occur in two phases. In the first phase, we will randomly assign students currently enrolled in Economics Principles courses to receive messages emphasizing the rewarding careers available to Economics majors or the financial returns to the major. These groups will be compared to students receiving no such messages and to a group receiving a "placebo" message with basic information about the major. In the second phase, all students receiving a grade of B- or better will receive a message after the course is over encouraging them to major in Economics. A randomly chosen subset of these students will receive a message encouraging them to persist in Economics even if their grade was disappointing. Results will shed light on student motivations to major in Economics, which messages can change their choices, and whether female students respond disproportionately to certain messages about the major.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Pugatch, Todd and Elizabeth Schroeder. 2020. "Motivations to Major in Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2745-2.1

Former Citation

Pugatch, Todd and Elizabeth Schroeder. 2020. "Motivations to Major in Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2745/history/75782

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention will occur in two phases. The study population is students enrolled in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University.

The first phase occurs while students are currently enrolled in an Economics Principles course. Students will be sent email messages emphasizing different aspects of the Economics major:

1. financial returns
2. rewarding careers

The second phase occurs after students have completed an Economics Principles course. Students receiving a grade of B- or better will receive a message encouraging them to persist in Economics even if their grade was disappointing.

Intervention Start Date

2018-11-12

Intervention End Date

2019-09-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

intention to major or minor in Economics (self-reported and administrative data)

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

knowledge about Economics major (financial returns)
viewership of material about Economics majors
appointments with Economics academic advisor
enrollment in subsequent Economics courses

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Phase One: students enrolled in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University will be randomly assigned to one of the following groups:

1. control group: no email
2. placebo email: basic information about the Economics major
3. financial returns email
4. rewarding careers email (link to AEA video)
5. rewarding careers email (link to video testimonial by Oregon State University alumni or current students)

Phase Two: students who received a grade of B- or better in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University will be randomly assigned to one of the following groups after completing the course:

1. control: email encouraging student to major in Economics
2. treatment: encouragement email with message to persist in Economics even if grade was disappointing

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

randomization done in office by a computer using random number generator

Randomization Unit

individual student

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

12 sections of Economics Principles courses

Sample size: planned number of observations

Phase 1: 3,000 students Phase 2: 1,200 students

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Phase 1: 600 students will be in each of the 5 treatment arms (including control group)
Phase 2: 600 students will be in each of the 2 treatment arms (including control group)

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

MDE for outcome "Intend to major in Economics (binary)": 4.1 percentage points (assumed control mean = 5%) MDE for outcome "Intend to major in Economics (continuous)": 6.2 percentage points (assumed control mean = 15%) Calculations assume 600 observations per arm, 5% test size, and 80% power.

Supporting Documents and Materials

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