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- [Narrator] On his quest
to master econometrics,
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Grasshopper Kamal has
made great progress
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stretching his capabilities
and outsmarting his foes.
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Alas, today he's despondent.
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For one challenge remains unmet.
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Kamal cannot yet decode
the scriptures of academic research,
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journals like
"The American Economic Review"
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and "Econometrica."
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These seemed to him to be inscribed
in an obscure foreign tongue.
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- [Kamal] Ugh, what the... ?
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- [Narrator] These volumes are
opaque to novice, Kamal,
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but can be deciphered with study.
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Let us learn to read them together.
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Let's dive into the West Point study,
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published in the "Economics
of Education Review."
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This paper reports
on a randomized evaluation
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of student electronics use
in Economics 101 classrooms.
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First, a quick review
of the research design.
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- Okay.
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- [Josh] 'Metrics masters
teaching at West Point,
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the military college that trains
American Army officers
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designed a randomized trial
to answer this question.
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These masters randomly assigned
West Point cadets
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into Economics classes
operating under different rules.
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Unlike most American colleges,
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the West Point default
is no electronics.
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For purposes of this experiment,
some students were left
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in such traditional
technology-free classes,
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no lap tops, no tablets
and no phones!
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[voice echoes]
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This is the control group,
or baseline case.
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Another group was allowed
to use electronics.
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This is the treatment group,
subject to a changed environment.
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The treatment in this case
is the unrestricted use
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of laptops or tablets in class.
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Every causal question
has a clear outcome,
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the variables we hope to influence
defined in advance of the study.