The Role of Feedback and Motivation in Policy Adoption

Last registered on November 30, 2018

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Role of Feedback and Motivation in Policy Adoption

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0003621

Initial registration date

November 30, 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

November 30, 2018, 9:47 PM EST

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

Locations

Country

Dominican Republic

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Patrick Agte

Affiliation

Princeton University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2018-11-08

End date

2019-08-31

Keywords

Education, Governance

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This study examines whether providing motivation and personalized feedback can improve the performance of government officials. In our setting, school directors from all public schools in the Dominican Republic were told to execute a specific task. We randomly varied the ways in which the instructions were given to test whether motivation and personalized feedback on previous task performance can increase the task execution.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Agte, Patrick. 2018. "The Role of Feedback and Motivation in Policy Adoption." AEA RCT Registry. November 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3621-1.0

Former Citation

Agte, Patrick. 2018. "The Role of Feedback and Motivation in Policy Adoption." AEA RCT Registry. November 30. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3621/history/38179

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2018-11-08

Intervention End Date

2018-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcome of this study is whether the school director implemented the "Declaracion por la paz" at his school. We will attempt to measure this in two ways. First, we will measure whether the director uploads evidence of completion as required in the program instructions. Second, directors were require to send pictures of students performing the task to a phone number of the Ministry. Both, uploads and pictures will be recorded by a team of enumerators.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This project is based on an anti-bullying campaign that was implemented as part of the "Month of Peace" in all secondary schools in the country. In order to scale the policy, the Ministry of Education sent an email to 2,724 secondary school principals with precise instructions on how to implement the project. We cross-randomize three dierent experiment (in the form of several treatment arms) that aim to increase the number of schools executing the task mandated by the Ministry.

In a first experiment, directors were split into two sub-samples based on their past performance. In September 2018, school directors were asked to pass a series of videos that provided students with information about the returns to nishing high-school. Only 53% of the 2,724 school principals successfully implemented the program. We refer to principals who complied and not complied as "Good Principals" and "Bad Principals" respectively. Within each of these samples, we randomly select 50% of them and provide them with personalized feedback regarding their past completion rates. We also stress the fact that the government will again monitor their behavior. This treatment intends to highlight the increase the perception of monitoring and accountability.

The positive feedback message reads as: According to our records, your school successfully implemented the Learning the Value of Education campaign (AVE-RD). We thank you for your participation, and we urge you to also participate in the "Declaration for Peace". Again we will be monitoring compliance with this instruction, to ensure that this campaign is implemented properly.

The negative feedback message reads as: According to our records, your school did not satisfactorily implement the previous campaign Learning the Value of Education (AVE-RD). We urge you to participate in the "Declaration for Peace" on this occasion. Again we will be monitoring compliance with this instruction, to ensure that this campaign is implemented properly.

In a second experiment, 50% of the directors will receive a special motivation text remarking the importance of the task that they are required to perform. This treatment is expected to induce more prosocial principal to increase the take up of the task. The message reads as: The school climate is an important factor that promotes learning. The school climate is something that can be managed, and the "Declaration for Peace" can contribute to this end. Be part of the solution and let's help together to reduce bullying and bad treatment at school.

In a third experiment, 50% of the directors will receive two additional reminders from a call center organized by the Ministry of Education. The rest of the directors won't be reached out by phone. This intervention is denoted as "high-intensity".

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

School Principal

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

2724 principals

Sample size: planned number of observations

2724 principals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Cell 1: Email: 340 principals
Cell 2: Email + Intensity: 340 principals
Cell 3: Email + Motivation: 341 principals
Cell 4: Email + Positive Feedback: 179 principals
Cell 5: Email + Negative Feedback: 162 principals
Cell 6: Email + Intensity + Motivation: 341 principals
Cell 7: Email + Intensity + Positive Feedback: 178 principals
Cell 8: Email + Intensity + Negative Feedback: 163 principals
Cell 9: Email + Motivation + Positive Feedback: 178 principals
Cell 10: Email + Motivation + Negative Feedback: 162 principals
Cell 11: Email + Intensity + Motivation + Positive Feedback: 178 principals
Cell 12: Email + Intensity + Motivation + Negative Feedback: 162 principals

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB