Giving Girls a Voice: Adolescents' Aspirations in India

Last registered on May 07, 2015
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Giving Girls a Voice: Adolescents' Aspirations in India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000052
Initial registration date
August 11, 2014

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
August 11, 2014, 3:57 PM EDT

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

Last updated
May 07, 2015, 4:56 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
Rajasthan

Primary Investigator

Name
Rebecca Thornton
Affiliation
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Clara Delavallade
PI Affiliation
IFPRI
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alan Griffith
PI Affiliation
University of Michigan
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2013-07-01
End date
2015-05-01
Keywords
Education, Post-conflict
Additional Keywords
Soft skills, aspirations, networks
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Amid growing recognition that girl-specific interventions can be effective and increased recognition of the importance of emotional and social learning, a number of programs have been developed with the aim of impacting girls' aspirations and so-called "soft skills." This study will evaluate the direct and indirect effects of one such program on girls, the most effective mode of delivery of the said program, additional effects of the program on others such as parents or male students, and overall, the effectiveness of efforts at improving girls’ selfesteem, aspirations, and soft skills as a mechanism for improving girls’ educational outcomes, specifically girls’ enrollment and retention in secondary school. The study will further investigate the effect of such programs on girls' social networks and the means through which soft skills spread through networks.
A network component of the study will examine endogenous and exogenous network formation and the subsequent effects of network changes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Delavallade, Clara, Alan Griffith and Rebecca Thornton. 2015. "Giving Girls a Voice: Adolescents' Aspirations in India." AEA RCT Registry. May 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.52-2.0
Former Citation
Delavallade, Clara, Alan Griffith and Rebecca Thornton. 2015. "Giving Girls a Voice: Adolescents' Aspirations in India." AEA RCT Registry. May 07. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/52/history/4256
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Working through government schools, an NGO recruits local volunteers who help to organize a range of activities. Among these activities are girls' parliaments, which consist of 13 girls elected among the population of girls in grades 6-8. Over a period of 6 months, these girls meet weekly with a community volunteer or program officer to undertake a curriculum aimed at increasing leadership, self-efficacy, and a number of other "soft skills." The curriculum consists of a number of "games" that are played among the girls, intended to build critical thinking skills and enhance their self-confidence, with the aim of reducing gender gaps that are pervasive in this part of India.
In the study, each school will hold mock elections. Thereafter, schools will be randomly assigned to a control (no program), T1 (program as usual), and T2 (program where girls are randomly selected into the program)
Intervention Start Date
2013-10-01
Intervention End Date
2014-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Retention in school, attendance, test scores, social networks, social marginalization, soft skills, aspirations
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Social networks will be measured via questionnaires eliciting friendship and kinship networks. This data will be used to measure effects on social marginalization and also the effects of the program on networks themselves, as well as peer effects.

Soft skills to be measured include self-esteem as well as other measures.

Aspirations will be measured via direct questions to participants about expected age at marriage, expected schooling to be completed, etc.

As we expect different types of girls to be chosen for participation in T1 and T2, we can also compute the relative effects of marginalization given different assignment rules.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The design will have three arms:
T1: Parliaments organized as usual, with girls elected to participate democratically.
T2: Girls chosen for the parliaments randomly, with girls chosen for participation randomly. Otherwise, the program will proceed as usual.
C: Control group. These schools will have no Bal Sabhas.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer, with stratification based upon school size (as measured by previous year's enrollment).
Randomization Unit
School-level randomization
For T2, girls are individually randomized into the Bal Sabha
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
30 schools for initial trial/pilot.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Schools have approximately 100 pupils each, so approximately 3000 respondents.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
10 schools each in T1, T2, C
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (University of Michigan)
IRB Approval Date
2014-02-20
IRB Approval Number
HUM00080868
IRB Name
IFPRI IRB
IRB Approval Date
2014-02-10
IRB Approval Number
0
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
May 01, 2014, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 01, 2015, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
30
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
2781
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
10 T1, 10 T2, 10 C
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials