Information about Peers' Choices and Future Job Prospects on College Major Decision

Last registered on February 24, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Information about Peers' Choices and Future Job Prospects on College Major Decision

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007251

Initial registration date

February 24, 2021

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

February 24, 2021, 10:29 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Bhutan

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Ryotaro Hayashi

Affiliation

Asian Development Bank

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2021-02-11

End date

2021-09-30

Keywords

Education, Labor

Additional Keywords

College Choice, Peer Influence, Information about the returns to education

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

We provide students with the information about peers' major choices and future job prospects to examine the importance of peer choices and the returns to education in college enrollment decisions. Our study subjects are grade-12 students in 17 high schools who are about to graduate and make educational choices. Students in one treatment arm are provided with major-disaggregated information about their peers' preferred major choices and future job prospects. Students in the other treatment arm are provided with the disaggregated information only about future job prospects. We measure students' beliefs about peers' preferred choices and the returns to tertiary education before and after the intervention and also collect the data about students' actual college choices.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Hayashi, Ryotaro. 2021. "Information about Peers' Choices and Future Job Prospects on College Major Decision." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7251-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name

Ministry of Education in Bhutan

Type

government

URL

http://www.education.gov.bt/

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

There are two treatment arms. Treatment arm 1 will provide students with the information about future job prospects (employment rates, types, and earnings) disaggregated by fields of tertiary education. Treatment arm 2 will provide students with the information about peer students' preferred education choices along with the same information about the future job prospects as in treatment arm 1. Control-group students receive the information about future job prospects that is not disaggregated by education.

Intervention Start Date

2021-02-11

Intervention End Date

2021-03-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Actual educational choice after high school graduation; Preferences on educational choices; Beliefs about peers’ preferred choices; Beliefs about future employment outcomes (employment rate and wage) for each educational choice

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Student's beliefs about how each educational choice is regarded by others

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Our study subjects are about 2000 grade 12 students in 16 high schools in Bhutan. They are randomly assigned into three groups: treatment arms 1 and 2 and the control group. We collect data about all study subjects based on a survey and administrative data.

Experimental Design Details

The selection of our study subjects, randomization, and data collection are conducted as follows.

[Study Subjects]
Our study subjects are all the grade 12 students (equivalent to high school seniors) who satisfy the following criteria:
1. A student goes to one of the 16 high schools under this study.
2. A student takes the online survey and completes the last question before the session of the information provision starts.
Once the online survey is launched, the number of our study subjects will be determined as per the second criteria.

[Randomization]
In the beginning of the online survey, students will be randomly assigned into one of the three groups (i.e., treatment group 1, treatment group 2, and control group) based on a random number generated by the online survey platform’s system. The randomization is not stratified.

[Data collection]
(a) The online survey: We will collect the information about students (e.g., preferences and beliefs about tertiary education before and after the information provision, demographics, etc.) in the online survey. It is a census survey, although it is expected that some students will not take the survey.
(b) We will collect the data about their actual educational choices from the ministry of education in summer to fall 2021.

Randomization Method

Random number generated by a computer

Randomization Unit

Individual randomization at the student level

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

There are no clusters, since the randomization is at the student level.

Sample size: planned number of observations

We estimate that the number of observations will be about 1500-2000 students. (Note. While there are about 2550 enrolled students at grade 12 in the 17 schools, it is expected that some of them will not participate in the online survey and, therefore, are excluded in our study subjects.)

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

500-666 students in treatment group 1
500-666 students in treatment group 2
500-666 students in control group

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

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