MDRC's The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trials Restricted Access File (THE-RCT RAF), United States, 2003-2019

The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial (THE-RCT) study aims to capitalize on existing data from postsecondary education RCTs to foster substantive and methodological scholarship and encourage teaching and learning opportunities. The cornerstone of THE-RCT is a restricted access file (RAF). The initial version contains individual-participant data from more than 25 of MDRC's higher education RCTs covering 50 institutions and over 50,000 students. The data were originally collected as part of different randomized controlled trial evaluations of a variety of higher education interventions. The data were collected for different student samples, at different times, and in different locations for each study. The data were collected from four data sources: 1. Baseline: Baseline student demographic data (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, age, etc.) were gathered, either via a survey administered to students upon joining the study (but prior to random assignment) or from study colleges' administrative records; 2. College Transcript: Student transcript data (e.g., enrollment, credits attempted, credits earned, GPA) were provided by the study colleges or state higher education agencies; 3. College Credential Attainment: Student credential attainment data were provided by the study colleges or state higher education agencies; 4. National Student Clearinghouse: Student enrollment and credential attainment data were provided by the National Student Clearinghouse via their StudentTracker database. This includes enrollment and credential attainment data at colleges beyond the colleges where the study took place. The RAF contains student-level data, including baseline demographics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity), outcomes (e.g., enrollment, credits earned, credentials), an indicator of experimental group (e.g., program or control group), and study variables (e.g., a variable that allows users to link to the RCT-level database).

高等教育随机对照试验（THE-RCT）研究旨在充分利用高等教育随机对照试验的现有数据，以促进实质性和方法论的研究，并激发教学与学习的机会。THE-RCT的基石为一个受限访问文件（RAF）。该文件的初始版本包含了来自MDRC高等教育随机对照试验的超过25个研究的数据，涉及50所机构及超过50,000名学生。这些数据最初是在对各种高等教育干预措施的不同随机对照试验评估中收集的。数据针对不同的学生群体、在不同的时间、不同的地点进行收集。数据来源于四个数据源：1. 基线：收集了学生的基线人口统计信息（例如，性别、种族/民族、年龄等），这些信息要么是通过在学生加入研究（但在随机分配之前）进行的调查收集的，要么是从研究院校的行政记录中获取的；2. 学院成绩单：学生的成绩单数据（例如，注册情况、所尝试的学分、所获得的学分、GPA）由研究院校或州高等教育机构提供；3. 学院证书获得：学生的证书获得数据由研究院校或州高等教育机构提供；4. 国家学生数据中心：学生的注册和证书获得数据通过国家学生数据中心的学生追踪数据库提供。这包括在研究进行之外的学院中的注册和证书获得数据。RAF包含了学生层面的数据，包括基线人口统计信息（例如，性别、种族/民族）、结果（例如，注册、所获得的学分、证书）、实验组指标（例如，项目或对照组）以及研究变量（例如，一个允许用户链接到RCT级别数据库的变量）。