Do personal reminders increase attendance?
Study design
Randomly assign students within each timetable block. Choose attendance per eligible session as the outcome and keep the study to one full teaching cycle.
Instrument and data fields
Record student ID, timetable, assignment and attended eligible sessions. Ask staff about changes to session schedules.
Simulated evidence
Morning: 74 of 100 attended with personal reminders, 68 of 100 with generic. Evening: 56 of 100 versus 55 of 100.
Check before drawing a conclusion
Write down the comparison you would make and the unit each row represents. Identify one explanation the study design cannot rule out, then describe how it would affect the decision.
Reveal the worked analysis
The observed differences are 6 and 1 percentage points. Equal-sized blocks give a pooled 3.5-point lift. Test the larger morning effect in a repeat cycle before tailoring the policy.
Students may share reminders, and repeat sessions for one student are correlated. Account for the assignment unit when estimating uncertainty.