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The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on perceived returns to university education in Switzerland.

Last registered on May 10, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on perceived returns to university education in Switzerland.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007649
Initial registration date
May 10, 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
May 10, 2021, 11:37 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 10, 2021, 3:01 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Laura Hagspiel
Affiliation
University of Zurich
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-03-15
End date
2021-08-27
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
Covid-19, Subjective Expectations
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This paper studies educational plans and perception of pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to higher education of Swiss pupils in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. I make use of subjective quantitative measures and a priming treatment to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on educational intentions and future earnings expectations in Switzerland.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hagspiel, Laura. 2021. "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on perceived returns to university education in Switzerland.." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7649-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is a priming treatment in which some participants are more exposed towards the concept of a pandemic. The survey tool I am using will randomly put those questioned into a control or treatment group. In concrete terms, this means that the two groups face different versions of the questionnaire. One group – the treatment group – has the questions concerning the pandemic first with additionally an image of the nationally distributed “Corona-poster” of the Swiss Government shown to them. Also, they have one more question than the control group for the manipulation check. The control group instead starts with the questions about the returns to education and educational plans - so that no previous connection to Covid-19 related issues is created.
Intervention Start Date
2021-03-23
Intervention End Date
2021-05-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Expectation about monthly future pre-tax earnings at age 25 in CHF, Student’s intention to follow a tertiary educational path, Non-pecuniary benefits & costs of higher education (Consumption value)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
To capture the perception of returns to university education and to measure the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, I conduct an online-survey with pupils in Switzerland from March-April 2021.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The survey tool I am using - Qualtrics - will randomly put those questioned into a control or treatment group.
Randomization Unit
The randomisation happens at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
around 3000 pupils
Sample size: planned number of observations
around 3000 pupils
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
around 1500 treatment, around 1500 control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre Analysis Plan

MD5: ee2efc8481e7182d86adeab75e24e713

SHA1: 190ca9284b218227088f46f23d5f28657b6b68cf

Uploaded At: May 10, 2021

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