Effects of Peer Group Composition in a Post-Secondary Environment

Last registered on May 27, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Effects of Peer Group Composition in a Post-Secondary Environment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004440

Initial registration date

July 22, 2019

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

July 24, 2019, 11:45 AM EDT

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

Last updated

May 27, 2022, 12:37 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

Primary Investigator

Name

Fulya Ersoy

Affiliation

University of Chicago

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Graham Beattie

PI Affiliation

Loyola Marymount University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2019-08-26

End date

2023-06-01

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Working with peers can be beneficial or harmful for many reasons. This study explores how working in pairs and pair composition affects students’ academic achievement and attitudes towards group work.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Beattie, Graham and Fulya Ersoy. 2022. "Effects of Peer Group Composition in a Post-Secondary Environment." AEA RCT Registry. May 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4440-3.0

Former Citation

Beattie, Graham and Fulya Ersoy. 2022. "Effects of Peer Group Composition in a Post-Secondary Environment." AEA RCT Registry. May 27. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4440/history/144910

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2019-08-26

Intervention End Date

2022-01-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

--Quiz Scores/Answers
--Exam Scores
--Trust levels

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

--College GPA
--Time to Graduation

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This experiment has two treatment arms: Individual Quiz and Group Quiz.

Experimental Design Details

Before each semester starts, students who enrolled for the intermediate microeconomics course take an online test that measures their initial microeconomics knowledge. Then, students receive an online initial survey that measures some personality traits (such as persistence, growth mindset, self-control, etc.) and their attitudes towards group work. Classrooms are randomly assigned to the treatment and the control groups. Each student in the treatment classrooms takes in-class quizzes with another randomly assigned student. The random peer assignment is repeated after every 4 quizzes. Each student in the control classrooms takes in-class quizzes individually. In total, there are 11-12 quizzes and these quizzes make up 15% of students’ final grades. Quiz questions are similar to the homework questions to give students an incentive to make them work on their homework together. At the end of the semester, students complete an end survey that measures their attitudes towards group work. This survey will also ask them questions about their interactions with their assigned partners outside of the classroom.

Randomization Method

Each semester, one professor will teach one section whereas the other professor will teach two sections. The section of the professor who teaches only one section will be the Group Quiz section. One of the sections of the professor who teaches two sections will be randomly assigned to be the Individual Quiz section and the other will be the Group Quiz section. The randomization will be done with a coin flip.

In the Group Quiz sections, students are randomly assigned to their partners by a computer and this is repeated after every 4 quizzes.

Randomization Unit

Randomization for the treatment is done at the classroom level.
Individuals in the group quiz classrooms are further randomly assigned to their peers.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

6 classrooms

Sample size: planned number of observations

Approximately 120 students

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

2 control classrooms (40 students) where students will take individual quizzes.
4 treatment classrooms (80 students) where students will take quizzes in pairs.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB