In Simple Words
Imagine offering a free evening fitness class across three neighborhoods. If Neighborhood A has open sidewalks, almost everyone walks over. If Neighborhood C has a strict curfew, few people attend. Evaluating the fitness class based only on those who attended ignores the fact that the people who needed fitness most were trapped by the curfew.
Observed social groups at SEWA Bank
- Muslim women
- Reference attendance
- Upper-caste Hindu women
- Reference attendance
- Scheduled-caste Hindu women
- Nearly one third more likely to attend
Observed attendance among invited women. Scheduled-caste women were nearly one third more likely to attend than Muslim and upper-caste women; restriction level was not randomized.
See source →Research question
Development interventions frequently experience differential participation because restrictive social norms impose non-monetary costs on session attendance. Women facing fewer cultural barriers participate at higher rates, creating selection bias that can skew unadjusted program evaluations.
Participants
N = 636 randomized SEWA Bank clients (597 analyzed: 346 UC, 70 SC, 181 Muslim) in Ahmedabad, India.
Study Design
Randomized Controlled Trial evaluating recruitment and attendance across 57 session clusters, utilizing instrumental variables (TOT) to adjust for take-up heterogeneity.
Results
Overall program take-up exceeded 70%, but Scheduled Caste women (the least restricted group) were nearly 33% more likely to attend training sessions than Muslim and Upper Caste Hindu women, demonstrating that baseline social mobility dictates intervention take-up.
Takeaway
Incorporate session-clustered instrumental variable specifications and non-monetary attendance support when evaluating interventions in communities with heterogeneous social mobility barriers.
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 →- Randomized controlled trial
A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.
ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.
GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →