Randomized factorial experiment of school choice website display formats¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A randomized factorial experiment in which 3,500 low-income parents of school-aged children chose schools for their children in a hypothetical school district while school information was displayed in varying formats. The design manipulated default ordering, data representation (icons, graphs, or just numbers), and summary conciseness, and measured chosen schools, understanding, satisfaction, and ease of use.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Parents of school-aged children as participants
• A hypothetical school district with displayable school information

Constraints¶

• Choices were made in a hypothetical school district rather than a live enrollment system

Target Learners¶

• low-income parents of school-aged children

Target Learning Goals¶

• understanding school performance information for choice

Claims¶

• Changing the default order in which schools are presented induces meaningful changes in the types of schools low-income parents choose [+M]
• Display design affected parents' understanding of school information and their self-reported satisfaction and ease of use [+M]
• Displaying data with icons or concise summaries led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance than graphs, numbers, or detailed displays [+M]
• Number-only displays maximized parents' understanding while graphs maximized satisfaction at the expense of understanding [+M]

Related Elements¶

• Online school chooser tool for low-income parents

Examples¶

• Default school-listing sort order to academic performance rather than distance from home

Key Sources¶

• Steven Glazerman, Ira Nichols-Barrer, Jon Valant, Jesse Chandler, Alyson Burnett. (2020). The Choice Architecture of School Choice Websites. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, vol. 13, issue 2. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/the-choice-architecture-of-school-choice-websites