About
The study in Ghana tested and compared different types of nudge messages, and different messaging implementation models to support caregivers in their efforts to encourage their children’s attendance at school, and as such contributed to the body of evidence about messaging interventions, their cost-effectiveness, and how they could be optimised and contextualised.
Key Findings
- The study found that nudge messaging improves attendance overall but tailored messages do not necessarily further increase rates of attendance.
- Pre-intervention, baseline and endline attendance data were collected from children of participating caregivers, and the average attendance at the endline was significantly higher than that of pre-intervention and baseline. However, the treatment groups who received improved messages (with or without a community focus) did not show improvement in attendance, compared with the same baseline messages.
- Qualitative data suggested that the lack of differences/improvement in attendance could be due to the broader socio-economic context preventing caregivers from taking additional actions as a result of receiving the messages. While some caregivers reported increases in their children’s attendance, many highlighted financial and other more structural barriers (e.g. education quality) that continued to inhibit attendance.
Bridging the Gap
The Challenge
Using messaging to share information on the benefits, costs, and quality of education can be a highly cost-effective way to promote participation in schooling and therefore increase access to learning. However, there are unanswered questions regarding why messaging works in some contexts and not in others, and what is it specifically about messaging that works.
Why It Matters
Our work aimed to answer that question by evaluating the impact that tailoring different message content and characteristics has on promoting returns to education among marginalised groups in Ghana.
EdTech Hub set out to develop learning from these experiments that could subsequently support a large-scale quantitative analysis to determine the relative impact that optimising important message characteristics has on students’ attendance rate across specific contexts. Ultimately, the intention of this work is to further the evidence-base on answering which aspects of messaging are most effective in increasing participation in education for marginalised groups.
Objective
To understand the mechanisms by which nudge messages can impact participation, and how these interact with the enabling environment and learner characteristics. Our study was designed with a particular emphasis on the cost-effectiveness of this category of messaging interventions is significant to the research.
The Research Questions
- What is the efficacy of different message characteristics and modalities?
- How cost-effective are different models of message delivery?
- What is the overall impact on attitudes and attendance of girls and other marginalised learners?
- What are the comparative findings about the suitability of messaging in different contexts, and what are the practical implications of these findings?
Study Design and Methodology
The study primarily focused on the quantitative analysis of participation over a year and a half before and after the sending of nudge messages. The analysis of the difference between three cohorts, before and after, provided a rigorous bookend to a Design Based Implementation Research sandbox phase in the middle which promoted participatory innovation into the features and components of the messaging inputs. Additionally, qualitative interviews were conducted to ensure a broader understanding of the data and aid in interpretation of the findings.
Timeline of Activities
November 2021 – January 2022
Inception phase
Development of methodology, research design, and work plan
January-May 2022
Baseline
Data collection for the baseline of the study
May-June 2022
Sandboxes
Design-based implementation research collaboration with partners in Ghana to rapidly iterate on the implementation models and variations of nudges messages
The Importance of the Results
The results of this study are important because they demonstrate that the enabling environment and structural issues around access to education are often more significant than the information barriers which nudge messaging interventions are targeting. In contrast to other studies, which have shown that messaging is both effective and among the most cost-effective ways of improving learning outcomes, this study’s results point to a more nuanced set of dependencies, which suggest that increasing participation is more complex for marginalised learners.
Implications for Policy and Practice
The policy implications of this study lie in supporting the role of messaging to encourage participation in education, alongside broader efforts to improve consistent engagement where economic and seasonal factors are key barriers. Simple and general uses of messaging, for example in reminding parents of term dates, or practical information, can lead to improved attendance as much as more nuanced and tailored nudge messages. This study also highlighted the role and responsibility of formal education systems to provide that information in an accessible manner can be met through basic SMS messages.
Story of change
In recent years, Northern Ghana has made significant strides in improving educational opportunities for girls and other marginalised learners, aiming to promote school attendance. Wunni Sabo, a parent from the Zarantinga community, shares his experience.
Study Team
- Joel Mitchell, Principal Investigator
- Jonny D’Rozario, Research Associate
Previous contributors to this study:
- Nathan Kably
- Annette Zhao
Recommended Reading
If you’re interested in nudging and behaviour-change messaging, explore our Learning Brief: What is ‘Nudging’ and How Does it Change Behaviour in Education?
Key Partners
