Reading focus
Syllabus: How Do Other People and Social Situations Shape Us?
Connect network theory to school and student assignment, keeping the corrected estimate and different outcomes visible.
Why you’re reading it. Evaluate an attempt to change social life without treating a promising point estimate as settled evidence of benefit.
A question to consider. A school is considering this programme. Which outcome and uncertainty from the study would matter most to that decision, and why? Identify one important question the study leaves unanswered.
Why this reading
Paluck and colleagues connect a theory of social influence to an intervention in school networks. Randomizing schools and invitations to students creates distinct comparisons for changes across schools and influence among peers.
Before you read
A social referent is a student who receives many nominations in the network survey, not necessarily a universally liked student. Intention-to-treat analysis compares assigned invitations even when some invitees do not participate. Administrative reports measure recorded disciplinary events.
Read for
- Separate school assignment, student invitation, attendance, and exposure to participating peers.
- Compare school-level disciplinary reports with students' perceived norms and peer-level outcomes.
- Use the linked corrections when interpreting the headline estimate and its uncertainty; distinguish the size of an estimate from the strength of evidence.
Consider afterwards
- A school wants to adopt the intervention. What additional outcomes and follow-up would show whether fewer disciplinary reports represent a sustained reduction in harm?
Editorial context
The 2018 correction changes the reported reduction from 30% to 25% and describes the overall effect on administrative reports as statistically insignificant at the .05 level, in tension with wording in the original article. The point estimate therefore should not be presented as a firmly established reduction. A 2019 correction adds funding information. The study covers 56 New Jersey schools, with administrative outcomes available for 49. Norm reports, disciplinary records, and experienced harm are different outcomes; no single result establishes every proposed mechanism or transfer to other settings.