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Reshaping Beliefs About Ourselves and Others: Experimental Evidence from Civil Servants in Pakistan

Last registered on January 11, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reshaping Beliefs About Ourselves and Others: Experimental Evidence from Civil Servants in Pakistan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008786
Initial registration date
January 09, 2022

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
January 11, 2022, 8:56 AM EST

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

Last updated
January 11, 2022, 9:14 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
New Economic School Moscow

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Lahore School of Economics
PI Affiliation
Columbia University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-01-13
End date
2023-01-13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Information frictions on the knowledge of one’s impact can stymie civil servant motivation for the well-being of individuals they serve. We conduct a field experiment among public school teachers in Pakistan. We randomize teachers to receive one of three information treatments. One treatment arm is growth mindset training that student outcomes are elastic and malleable. A second treatment arm presents a narrative about teacher value-added. A third treatment arm presents empirical evidence on teacher value-added. We cross-randomize teachers to receive additional SMS messages to reinforce the training.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mehmood, Sultan, Shaheen Naseer and Jalnidh Kaur. 2022. "Reshaping Beliefs About Ourselves and Others: Experimental Evidence from Civil Servants in Pakistan." AEA RCT Registry. January 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8786-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our intervention targets these misperceived social norms through a combination of information provision and exposure to a role-model. We individually randomize 400 teachers to one of the below arms:

Arm A (Growth Mindset Treatment): Teachers are exposed to a first-generation learner from a similar background as their students, who fought odds to achieve heights in their academic and professional career.
Arm B (Narrative Treatment): Teachers are exposed to a role-model who acknowledges the role of primary school teachers in their life. (anecdotal value-added)
Arm C (Evidence Treatment): Teachers are exposed to information about the role of primary school teachers based on empirical evidence.
Arm D (Placebo): Teachers are exposed to a training of similar length and format as other arms on a neutral topic.
Intervention Start Date
2022-01-13
Intervention End Date
2023-01-13

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Seft-reported surveys, petitions, IAT
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our intervention targets these misperceived social norms through a combination of information provision and exposure to a role-model. We individually randomize 400 public school teachers to one of the below arms:

Arm A (Growth Mindset Treatment): Teachers are exposed to a first-generation learner from a similar background as their students, who fought odds to achieve heights in their academic and professional career.
Arm B (Narrative Treatment): Teachers are exposed to a role-model who acknowledges the role of primary school teachers in their life. (anecdotal value-added)
Arm C (Evidence Treatment): Teachers are exposed to information about the role of primary school teachers based on empirical evidence.
Arm D (Placebo): Teachers are exposed to a training of similar length and format as other arms on a neutral topic.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization is by a computer in Stata.
Randomization Unit
Unit of Randomization is at the teacher individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
400
Sample size: planned number of observations
400 teachers and 10000 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
100 teachers per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The IRB application granted tentative approval and awaiting final approval.
IRB Approval Date
2022-01-10
IRB Approval Number
N/A

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