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Too Little or Too Much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment

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Listed:
  • Cortes, Kalena E.

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Fricke, Hans

    (Amazon)

  • Loeb, Susanna

    (Stanford University)

  • Song, David S.

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

Text-message based parenting programs have proven successful in improving parental engagement and preschoolers' literacy development. The tested programs have provided a combination of (a) general information about important literacy skills, (b) actionable advice (i.e., specific examples of such activities), and (c) encouragement. The regularity of the texts – each week throughout the school year – also provided nudges to focus parents' attention on their children. This study seeks to identify mechanisms of the overall effect of such programs. It investigates whether the actionable advice alone drives previous study's results and whether additional texts of actionable advice improve program effectiveness. The findings provide evidence that text messaging programs can supply too little or too much information. A single text per week is not as effective at improving parenting practices as a set of three texts that also include information and encouragement, but a set of five texts with additional actionable advice is also not as effective as the three-text approach. The results on children's literacy development depend strongly on the child's pre-intervention literacy skills. For children in the lowest quarter of the pretreatment literacy assessments, only providing one example of an activity decreases literacy scores by 0.15 standard deviations relative to the original intervention. Literacy scores of children in higher quarters are marginally higher with only one tip per week. We find no positive effects of increasing to five texts per week.

Suggested Citation

  • Cortes, Kalena E. & Fricke, Hans & Loeb, Susanna & Song, David S., 2018. "Too Little or Too Much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 11669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11669
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    Cited by:

    1. Todd Pugatch & Nicholas Wilson, 2024. "Nudging Demand for Academic Support Services: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Higher Education," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(5), pages 1637-1682.
    2. Kalena E. Cortes & Hans D.U. Fricke & Susanna Loeb & David S. Song & Benjamin N. York, 2019. "When Behavioral Barriers are Too High or Low – How Timing Matters for Parenting Interventions," NBER Working Papers 25964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Juanita Bloomfield & Ana Balsa & Alejandro Cid, 2023. "Using behavioral insights in early childhood interventions: the effects of Crianza Positiva e-messaging program on parental investment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 95-130, March.
    4. Barrera,Oscar & Macours,Karen & Premand,Patrick & Vakis,Renos, 2020. "Texting Parents about Early Child Development : Behavioral Changes and Unintended Social Effects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9492, The World Bank.
    5. Mateo-Berganza Díaz, María Mercedes & Becerra, Laura & Hernández Agramonte, Juan Manuel & Lopez Boo, Florencia & Pérez Alfaro, Marcelo & Vasquez Echeverria, Alejandro, 2020. "Nudging Parents to Increase Preschool Attendance in Uruguay," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 10893, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Gonzalez, Kathryn & Lagos, Francisco & Deming, David J., 2020. "Providing performance information in education: An experimental evaluation in Colombia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    7. Georg F. Camehl & C. Katharina Spieß & Kurt Hahlweg, 2019. "Short- and Mid-Term Effects of a Parenting Program on Maternal Well-Being: Evidence for More and Less Advantaged Mothers," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1062, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    8. Camehl, Georg F. & Spiess, Christa Katharina & Hahlweg, Kurt, 2020. "The Effects of a Parenting Program on Maternal Well-Being: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Ahead of .
    9. Camehl Georg F. & Spiess Christa Katharina & Hahlweg Kurt, 2020. "The Effects of a Parenting Program on Maternal Well-Being: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 1-26, October.
    10. Fricke, Hans & Kalogrides, Demetra & Loeb, Susanna, 2018. "It’s too annoying: Who drops out of educational text messaging programs and why," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 39-43.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    literacy and reading skills; parental engagement; text messaging; and parent-child activities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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