| dc.description.abstract | In this master thesis we investigate the effect of providing students with accurate
information about their peers’ time spent on homework. We use experimental data
collected from two surveys carried out on 10th grade students in Norway. The main
survey contained an intervention targeting students who spent below the median time
of their class on homework. These students were provided with information about the
actual median time spent on homework in their class. The follow-up survey consisted of
questions regarding the students’ beliefs. A partial population design was utilized in order
to capture any spillover effects, in addition to direct treatment effects.
Our main results suggests that the intervention was successful in correcting students’ beliefs.
Both the reduced form estimation and the instrumental variable estimation suggested
a positive treatment effect across our six outcome variables. We used three different
specifications, and while we see some differences between them, the main take-away
suggests a positive treatment effect.
Our analysis suggests some heterogeneity across students’ attitudes, but the evidence is
weak. We also check for heterogeneous effects of treatment and spillover conditional on
the students’ centrality in the peer group. We find some initial differences across these
subgroups, but the evidence is ambiguous and does not provide any clear insight into this
question.
We recommend further investigation of the direct behavioral changes of such an
intervention, as well as more in-depth investigation of the peer effects. | en_US |
