In Simple Words
A summary index standardizes and averages multiple related measurements into a single overall score, functioning like a composite GPA that summarizes a student's performance across individual class subjects into one overall mark.
Migrants with lower starting remittances
- Without remittance labels
- Study comparison group
- With remittance labels
- 0.027 higher remittance index
Thirty-week trial subgroup. Standardized composite of four remittance measures; significant at 1%. Separate subgroup estimates do not prove different effects.
See source →Research question
Evaluating experimental interventions across multiple related outcome variables (such as transaction count, total amount, log amount, and binary indicators) increases the risk of false-positive statistical findings due to multiple hypothesis testing.
Participants
N = 4,451 Filipino migrant workers in the UAE across 137,927 weekly observations.
Study Design
Econometric evaluation utilizing Kling et al. (2007) equal-weighted standardized summary index combining binary remittance sending, transaction count, winsorized remittance amount, and log remittance amount.
Results
The overall labeling treatment effect on the aggregated Kling remittance index across the full sample was +0.013 standard deviations (p > 0.10), while for the low baseline remittance subsample it reached +0.027 standard deviations (p < 0.01).
Takeaway
Construct a Kling standard deviation normalized composite index when evaluating interventions with multiple correlated outcome variables to control false-positive rates.
Source and citation
See source →Read alongside the research
Plain-English glossary
Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.
- Baseline
The starting measurements in a study. Researchers use these to compare what participants were like at the start with what happens later.
ExampleBefore a training programme starts, researchers measure workers’ earnings. That first measurement is the baseline.
GET-IT glossary · Baseline characteristics ↗Read more about baseline →