The Effect of Ranking on Effort

Last registered on January 12, 2022
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effect of Ranking on Effort
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008800
Initial registration date
January 11, 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 12, 2022, 7:55 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Derek Rury
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-01-18
End date
2022-03-29
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We rank students based on the amount of time they spend on an online homework module and then provide them with this information using a randomized experiment design. We then study how students respond to learning where they rank on this metric, which we take as a proxy for study effort, on subsequent study effort and course outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Rury, Derek. 2022. "The Effect of Ranking on Effort." AEA RCT Registry. January 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8800-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We rank students based on the amount of time they spend on an online homework module and then provide them with this information using a randomized experiment design. We then study how students respond to learning where they rank on this metric, which we take as a proxy for study effort, on subsequent study effort and course outcomes.
Intervention Start Date
2022-01-18
Intervention End Date
2022-03-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Time spent on online homeworks; homework scores; midterm and final exam performance; course grade
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
These are the ways that learning your effort rank will likely influence behavior.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We are interested in how these effects vary by different student characteristics, specifically; gender; low-income status; race/ethnicity; exam 1 performance; etc.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We believe that there may be heterogeneous treatment effects across these student level dimensions.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We rank students based on the amount of time they spend on an online homework module and then provide them with this information using a randomized experiment design. We then study how students respond to learning where they rank on this metric, which we take as a proxy for study effort, on subsequent study effort and course outcomes. We plan to provide updated information in this same (randomized) way directly after each of the three course midterms.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Students will be randomized into treatment and control via stata.
Randomization Unit
Students
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
900
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
450
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
UC Davis
IRB Approval Date
2021-11-16
IRB Approval Number
1827335-2
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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