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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
In January 2015, an initial notice about the UWE Challenge was sent out to institutions in the United States that graduated at least fifteen (15) economics majors a year. About half of the institutions replied with their interest in the project, and from the "treatable sample" of interested schools, twenty (20) were randomly selected for the treatment group of the project. Remaining schools were designated as control institutions. (See Experimental Design for more details.)
For the schools in the treatment arm, the study provided grant payments ($12,500 total) for meeting stated goals and guidance to implement various interventions aimed at recruiting more undergraduate women into the economics major. A list of interventions, compiled by an advisory group to the project in November 2014, was presented to the departments as a starting point, but each department was able to select and, if necessary, design their own set of interventions. Interventions were classified into one or more of the following three categories depending on the area that they target:
- Better Information: Without accurate information about the broader application of economics (e.g., beyond finance and consulting), women are more likely to major in less rigorous fields, often within the social sciences or humanities, that seem to provide more application to the theory behind economics.
- Mentoring and Role Models: Women are more sensitive to their grades in introductory courses when choosing their major than are men. The creation of networks among students within the department and showing support for their decision to major in the field has been effective in recruiting underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and may also be effective in economics.
- Content and Presentation Style: On average, female undergraduates are less confident about their quantitative skills than are men even if they are equally able and prepared. Their lack of confidence may diminish their belief that economics fits their personal strengths and abilities. Including more evidence-based material and incorporating projects int the curriculum may help the students to challenge this image of their suitability for and interest in economics.
Actual interventions can include, but are not limited to:
- inviting alumni/guest speakers who work in diverse fields other than finance and consulting for a lecture series or a panel discussion about the application of economics in their work;
- increasing the number of female TAs/graduate students/older undergraduate mentors;
- helping students find summer jobs that value economics, are dynamic, and include human contact;
- having informal lunches with professors and TAs;
- supporting independent/group projects in various sub-fields such as health, poverty, crime, inequality, sports, and others, or supplementing introductory and intermediate theory economics courses with modules in these sub-fields;
- making sections more conductive to learning for students with different skill levels, styles of learning, and interests,
and many more.
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After
In January 2015, an initial notice about the UWE Challenge was sent out to institutions in the United States that graduated at least fifteen (15) economics majors a year. About half of the institutions replied with their interest in the project, and from the "treatable sample" of interested schools, twenty (20) were randomly selected for the treatment group of the project. Remaining schools were designated as control institutions. (See Experimental Design for more details.)
For the schools in the treatment arm, the study provided grant payments ($12,500 total) for meeting stated goals and guidance to implement various interventions aimed at recruiting more undergraduate women into the economics major. A list of interventions, compiled by an advisory group to the project in November 2014, was presented to the departments as a starting point, but each department was able to select and, if necessary, design their own set of interventions. Interventions were classified into one or more of the following three categories depending on the area that they target:
- Better Information: Without accurate information about the broader application of economics (e.g., beyond finance and consulting), women are more likely to major in less rigorous fields, often within the social sciences or humanities, that seem to provide more application to the theory behind economics.
- Mentoring and Role Models: Women are more sensitive to their grades in introductory courses when choosing their major than are men. The creation of networks among students within the department and showing support for their decision to major in the field has been effective in recruiting underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and may also be effective in economics.
- Content and Presentation Style: On average, female undergraduates are less confident about their quantitative skills than are men even if they are equally able and prepared. Their lack of confidence may diminish their belief that economics fits their personal strengths and abilities. Including more evidence-based material and incorporating projects int the curriculum may help the students to challenge this image of their suitability for and interest in economics.
The official treatment year ran during the 2015-16 academic year, although many schools have continued and expanded upon the interventions in the initial year. The most common interventions included, but are not limited to:
- Providing more complete information about upper-level economics courses and the overall major requirements (implemented by 12 treatment departments);
- Sending letters of encouragement to students in Principles (11);
- Use of the AEA video and/or producing own videos about economics (10);
- Panels with faculty, alumni, and others about economics careers (7);
- Informational fliers about economics for freshmen at start of year (7);
- Focus groups with students to learn what could be improved (7);
- UWE student clubs (6);
- Use of upper-class majors and graduate students as mentors (6);
- Faculty workshops with undergraduates (6);
- Informal lunches for faculty and students (6).
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