Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology

Tübingen Center for Randomized Controlled Field Trials

Over the past decade, the Hector Research Institute has become a world leader in planning, conducting, and analyzing intervention studies in educational contexts. The Tübingen Center for Randomized Controlled Field Trials brings this experience together in a specialized unit with the aim of further developing the capacity for implementing innovative randomized field trials. Under the lead of Professor Benjamin Nagengast, the Center aims to pave the way for the next generation of randomized field studies that are informed by and informative for psychological and educational theory, and that systematically use technological advances to assess learning and motivational processes in trials.

 You will find more information about the newly established center here shortly.

Selected Publications

  • Bertram, C., Wagner, W., & Trautwein, U. (2017). Learning historical thinking with oral history interviews. A cluster randomized controlled intervention study of oral history interviews in history lessons. American Educational Research Journal, 54(3), 444-484. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217694833
  • Brisson, B. M., Hulleman, C. S., Häfner, I., Gaspard, H., Flunger, B., Dicke, A.-L., Trautwein, U., & Nagengast, B. (2020). Who sticks to the instructions—and does it matter? Antecedents and consequences of students’ fidelity to a classroom-based relevance intervention. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 23, 121-144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-019-00922-z
  • Brisson, B. M., Dicke, A.-L., Gaspard, H., Häfner, I., Flunger, B., Nagengast, B., & Trautwein, U. (2017). Short intervention, sustained effects: Promoting students’ competence beliefs, effort, and achievement in mathematics. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1048-1078. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217716084
  • Gaspard, H., Dicke, A.-L., Flunger, B., Brisson, B., Häfner, I., Nagengast, B., & Trautwein, U. (2015). Fostering adolescents’ value beliefs for mathematics with a relevance intervention in the classroom. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1226-1240. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000028
  • Gaspard, H., Parrisius, C., Piesch, H., Kleinhansl, M., Wille, E., Nagengast, B., Trautwein, U., & Hulleman, C. S. (2021). The potential of relevance interventions for scaling up: A cluster-randomized trial testing the effectiveness of a relevance intervention in math classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000663
  • Herbein, E., Golle, J., Tibus, M., Schiefer, J., Trautwein, U., & Zettler, I. (2018). Fostering elementary school children's public speaking skills: A randomized controlled trial. Learning and Instruction, 55, 158–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.10.008
  • Itzek-Greulich, H., Flunger, B., Vollmer, C., Nagengast, B., Rehm, M. & Trautwein, U. (2017). Effectiveness of lab-work learning environments in and out of school: A cluster randomized study. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 48, 98-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.09.005
  • Nagengast, B., Brisson, B.M., Hulleman, C.S., Gaspard, H., Häfner, I., & Trautwein, U. (2018). Learning more from educational interventions studies: Estimating complier average causal effects in a relevance intervention. Journal of Experimental Education, 86, 105-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1289359
  • Schiefer, J., Stark, L., Gaspard, H., Wille, E., Trautwein, U., & Golle, J. (2021). Scaling up an extracurricular science intervention for elementary school students: It works, and girls benefit more from it than boys. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113, 784-807. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000630
  • Schiefer, J., Golle, J., Tibus, M., Herbein, E., Gindele, V., Trautwein, U., & Oschatz, K. (2019). Effects of an extracurricular science intervention on elementary school children's epistemic beliefs: A randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 382–402. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12301
  • Volk, C., Haible, S., Demetriou, Y., Krustrup, P., Thiel, A., Trautwein, U., Wagner, W., Höner, O. & Sudeck, G. (2021). Effects of a physical education intervention program for ninth graders on physical activity-related health competence – findings from the GEKOS cluster randomized controlled trial. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 55, 101923. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2021.101923