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Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes

Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes Greg Brooks*, Maxine Burton*, Pam Cole*, Jeremy Miles**, Carole Torgerson*** and David Torgerson** g.brooks@shef.ac.uk *School of Education, University of Sheffield

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Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes

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  1. Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes Greg Brooks*, Maxine Burton*, Pam Cole*, Jeremy Miles**, Carole Torgerson*** and David Torgerson** g.brooks@shef.ac.uk *School of Education, University of Sheffield **York Trials Unit, Dept of Health Sciences, University of York ***Department of Educational Studies, University of York

  2. Background • Poor adult literacy widespread problem • Regular attendance known to correlate with adult learners making better progress in reading. • No evidence from randomised controlled trials on incentives to attend.

  3. Methods • Pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial • Built on top of existing University of Sheffield Effective practice in reading study

  4. Funding for main study Funding for trial ESFUniversity of Sheffield (separate fund) DfES Learners SfLSU  IoE  NRDC  University of Sheffield

  5. Ethical approval and informed consent obtained • 29 adult literacy classes allocated by York Trials Unit to two groups using minimisation • Classes mainly in East Midlands and North of England, with 3 outliers in South East • Main outcome: number of sessions attended • Secondary outcome: reading attainment (tests devised by NFER)

  6. Both groups received £20 to attend pre- and post-tests sessions in January and June 2005 • Intervention group also received £5 for each session attended between pre- and post-tests • Payments to learners after end of study

  7. Results • One class did not meet inclusion criteria – excluded • 14 classes in each group • Tests marked by researcher at NFER • Data analysed by statistician in York blind to status of groups

  8. Effects of incentives on sessions attended and post-test scores

  9. Limitations • Small study • Small incentive • Incentives in form of vouchers – cash better? • Did not test policy of financial sanctions

  10. DiscussionPerverse result known variously as: • ‘Over-Justification Hypothesis’ • ‘Corruption Effect’ • ‘The Hidden Cost of Reward’ • ‘Cognitive Evaluation Theory’ • ‘Crowding-Out Effect’

  11. External interventions crowd out intrinsic motivation if they are perceived as controlling. In that case, both self-determination and self-esteem suffer, and the individuals react by reducing their intrinsic motivation in the activity controlled.(Frey and Jegen, 2001, p.594) • - with rider ‘for interesting tasks’ added on p.598 • Plausible explanation?

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