Working Paper: NBER ID: w23738
Authors: Christopher R. Dobronyi; Philip Oreopoulos; Uros Petronijevic
Abstract: This paper presents an independent large-scale experimental evaluation of two online goal-setting interventions. Both interventions are based on promising findings from the field of social psychology. Approximately 1,400 first-year undergraduate students at a large Canadian university were randomly assigned to complete one of two online goal-setting treatments or a control task. Additionally, half of treated participants also were offered the opportunity to receive follow-up goal-oriented reminders through e-mail or text messages in an attempt to test a cost-effective method for increasing the saliency of treatment. Across all treatment groups, we observe no evidence of an effect on GPA, course credits, or second year persistence. Our estimates are precise enough to discern a seven percent standardized performance effect at a five percent significance level. Our results hold by subsample, for various outcome variables, and across a number of specifications.
Keywords: goal-setting; academic performance; college success; reminders; field experiment
JEL Codes: I23; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Goal-setting interventions (L21) | GPA (C00) |
| Goal-setting interventions (L21) | Course credits (A22) |
| Goal-setting interventions (L21) | Second-year persistence (C41) |