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Trial Title Parental Beliefs about Child Development: Folk versus Expert Knowledge Parental Beliefs about Child Development: Community versus Expert Knowledge
Abstract The study entails an experiment in entire, isolated Argentinian communities in the province of Tucuman. By exogenously changing the beliefs of individuals within these communities, we aim at bringing experimental evidence on the evolution of wisdom of the crowd (folk knowledge) and the aggregation of beliefs when individuals are presented with scientific evidence. The experiment will be conducted in the context of early childhood education and parenting practices. Understanding through which mechanisms social beliefs move from folk knowledge to evidence-based knowledge is crucial for policymakers in this context as parental behavior plays a critical role in child development. Changing social beliefs towards better parenting practices has the potential to improve children’s schooling and labor market outcomes and disrupt the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequality in the long-run. The study entails an experiment in entire, isolated Argentinian communities in the province of Tucuman. By exogenously changing the beliefs of individuals within these communities, we aim at bringing experimental evidence on the evolution of wisdom of the crowd (community knowledge) and the aggregation of beliefs when individuals are presented with scientific evidence. The experiment will be conducted in the context of early childhood education and parenting practices. Understanding through which mechanisms social beliefs move from community knowledge to evidence-based knowledge is crucial for policymakers in this context as parental behavior plays a critical role in child development. Changing social beliefs towards better parenting practices has the potential to improve children’s schooling and labor market outcomes and disrupt the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequality in the long-run.
Last Published January 26, 2021 10:17 AM March 15, 2021 12:16 AM
Intervention (Public) We will provide scientific information about the importance of talking with children for early brain development to randomly selected household representatives in different Argentinian villages and study how information diffuses and aggregates through social networks. We will provide scientific information about the importance of talking with children for early brain development to randomly selected household representatives in different Argentinian villages and study how individual beliefs update in the face of scientific evidence given community beliefs, how information diffuses and how it aggregates through social networks.
Primary Outcomes (End Points) Beliefs over the returns to talking with children for early brain development. Beliefs over the returns to talking with children for early brain development. Demand for early childhood development programs.
Experimental Design (Public) The proposed project consists of three phases: Phase 1: We will collect detailed household data on existing beliefs about the returns to talking with children, parenting practices, and social network data within the respective villages. Phase 2: A random sub-sample of household representatives will be invited to a lab-in-the-field experiment where they will be provided with information about the importance of language and communication for child development. Within the lab experiment, we will analyze under what conditions individuals update their beliefs and how important the identity of the information sender is. This will allow us to determine the network weights our lab participants will have to disseminate this new information within the villages. Phase 3: We will conduct two follow-up surveys to estimate the information dissemination within village clusters and beliefs aggregation. The seeders of the new information will be the lab participants who, given their individual characteristics, will have different network weights in the community. Phase 3 will allow us to analyze under what conditions and to what extent social beliefs converge towards scientific evidence and whether social learning ultimately leads to improved parenting practices. The proposed project consists of three phases: Phase 1: We will collect detailed household data on existing beliefs about the returns to talking with children, parenting practices, and social network data within the respective villages. Phase 2: A random sub-sample of household representatives will be invited to a lab-in-the-field experiment where they will be provided with information about the importance of language and communication for child development. Within the lab experiment, we will analyze under what conditions individuals update their beliefs. This will allow us to determine the network weights our lab participants will have to disseminate this new information within the villages. Phase 3: We will conduct two follow-up surveys to estimate the information dissemination within village clusters and beliefs aggregation. The seeders of the new information will be the lab participants who, given their individual characteristics, will have different network weights in the community. Phase 3 will allow us to analyze under what conditions and to what extent social beliefs converge towards scientific evidence and whether social learning ultimately leads to improved parenting practices.
Planned Number of Clusters 10 villages 15 villages
Planned Number of Observations 3.000 households 2.200 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms 600 households will be in the treatment arm as they will be invited to the lab experience whereas 2.400 households are control or potential network spillover households. 500 households will be in the treatment arm as they will be invited to the lab experience whereas 1.700 households are control or potential network spillover households.
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