High School Advising and the Gender Gap in STEM Fields

Last registered on June 04, 2020
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
High School Advising and the Gender Gap in STEM Fields
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005973
Initial registration date
June 04, 2020

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
June 04, 2020, 6:58 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Canada
Region
Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Heather Sarsons
Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-07-01
End date
2021-08-15
Keywords
Education, Gender
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This project studies whether and how the advice students receive in high school impacts their post-secondary education decisions. We test whether male and female students are advised toward gender-congruent fields of study and whether this contributes to the underrepresentation of women in certain fields. This is done through surveys with high school students and guidance counsellors/teachers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Sarsons, Heather. 2020. "High School Advising and the Gender Gap in STEM Fields." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5973-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Part 1: We interview students before and after seeing a guidance counsellor whom they are randomly assigned to

Part 2: Guidance counsellors are asked to provide more structured guidance to a male or female student (randomized). These data are then coded to understand how they guide students.
Intervention Start Date
2020-08-15
Intervention End Date
2021-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Students: preferences over universities and programs, final major decision
Guidance counsellors: program recommendations
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Students are randomly assigned to guidance counsellors and are interviewed about their post-secondary preferences before and after the meetings. The meetings are not recorded.

A larger pool of guidance counsellors are randomly assigned to a male or female student and provide feedback through an online form.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization of students to counsellors is done by school administrators.
Randomization of counsellors to students (different sample) done by computer randomization.
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
35 schools (for part 1), 3-8 counsellors per school
Sample size: planned number of observations
Part 1: 3500 students Part 2: 800 counsellors/teachers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
varies by school
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago AURA IRB
IRB Approval Date
2020-06-03
IRB Approval Number
IRB20-0763
Analysis Plan

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