Can information provision increase postgraduate enrollment of students with low socioeconomic background?

大学生选择上大学受其社会经济地位（SES）背景、持有能力等可观察因素的影响。在德国，基于社会经济背景的学生在决定攻读学士学位方面存在21个百分点的差距。在从本科（学士）到研究生（硕士）学习的过渡阶段，这一差距又扩大了11到17个百分点。这一差距的确切大小仍有争议，部分原因可能是低社会经济地位背景和高社会经济地位背景的学生之间的差异，而研究人员通常没有注意到这一点。然而，增加低社会经济地位背景学生在大学中的比例是德国（以及全世界）高等教育政策的一个重要目标。本研究将实施并评估一项随机对照试验（RCT），以研究提供有关研究生学习成本和收益的信息如何影响低经济社会背景学生的学习决策。把重点放在研究生学习上有三个理由。首先，现有的文献几乎只研究了参加本科学习的决定。其次，在博洛尼亚之后的世界里，几乎每个学生都必须做出是否攻读硕士学位的决定。最后，最近关于大学工资回报的研究将大学群体分为本科和研究生学位，研究表明研究生学习的工资回报特别高。因此，决定攻读硕士学位的社会经济差异将直接影响社会收入不平等。该项目将研究提供有关研究生学习成本和未来回报的信息是否会影响意向和招生，特别是对低经济背景的学生。我们将实施随机对照试验，因为这是应用研究的黄金标准。先验地相信，信息的提供可以产生影响，特别是对于低社会经济地位背景的学生，其原因既来自扩展的人力资本方法，也来自个人行为的行为经济学模型。这个项目的重点是提供信息提供对研究生学习意向和低经济背景学生入学的简化效应。确切地说，为了产生一个毫无疑问的因果估计，我们选择将治疗作为随机对照试验。此外，我们还将通过匹配程序对来自国家教育小组研究（NEPS）的不同（且更大）控制组的结果进行估计。这使我们能够部分解决rct在外部效度方面的潜在弱点，同时保持rct在内部效度方面的优势。该项目将在柏林DIW主持，该项目可以接触到低ses的本科生，他们将在2017年决定是否继续攻读研究生课程。

The choice to study at university is influenced by the socio-economic status (SES) background of students, holding constant ability and other observable factors. In Germany, there is a gap of 21 percentage points based on SES background of students regarding the decision to study for a Bachelors degree. This gap widens by another 11 to 17 percentage points at the transition from undergraduate (Bachelors) to postgraduate (Masters) studies. The exact size of the gap remains debated and might partly be explained by differences between low- and high-SES background students, which are usually unobserved to the researcher. Nevertheless, increasing the share of low-SES background students at university is an important objective of German higher education policy (and worldwide). This study will implement and evaluate a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to study how the provision of information about costs and benefits of postgraduate studies affect study-decisions of low-SES background students. The focus on postgraduate studies is warranted for three reasons. First, the existing literature almost exclusively studies the decision to enroll in undergraduate studies. Second, almost every student in the post-Bologna world has to make this decision of whether to pursue a Masters degree. Finally, very recent research on college wage returns that splits the college-group into undergraduate and postgraduate degrees documents that wage returns to postgraduate studies are particularly high. Socio-economic differences in decisions to seek Masters degrees will, therefore, directly affect societal income inequalities. This project will examine if information provision about the costs and future returns of postgraduate studies affects intentions and enrollment, in particular for low-SES background students.We will implement a RCT because this is the gold standard in applied research. The reasons to believe, a priori, that the provision of information could make a difference, especially for low-SES background students, emerge both from an extended human capital approach as well as from behavioral economic models of individual behavior. The focus of this project is on providing the reduced form effect of information provision on postgraduate study intentions and enrolment of low-SES background students. Precisely, to generate a causal estimate that is beyond any doubt, we chose to deliver the treatment as RCT. In addition, we will also estimate results against a different (and much larger) control group that we draw from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) through a matching procedure. This allows us to partially address potential weaknesses of RCTs with respect to external validity in our setting, while maintaining the advantages of a RCTs with respect to internal validity.The project will be hosted at DIW Belin, which has access to a population of low-SES undergraduate students who will decide in 2017 whether or not to pursue postgraduate studies.