The effect of knowledge of results on motivation and performance

The present study examined whether feedback on how well one has learned a new task influenced a person's subsequent motivation and performance on the same type of task. A total of 137 undergraduates were asked to complete a motivation survey, and to be quizzed on newly learned facts. The study was conducted in two parts. First, participants completed a packet consisting of a motivation survey and obscure facts. Then, they turned it in and received a fill in the blank quiz on the obscure facts they have learned. Just prior to the start of the second visit, some four weeks later, accurate feedback was given to half of the participants regarding their performance on the quiz, along with the mean score for the group. The other half of the participants received no feedback. The distribution of scores, for new learning, of the no feedback group directly matched the distribution of scores of the feedback group. The second part of the study was the same as the first. Alternate forms of both measures (motivation, and the fill in the blank quiz on newly learned facts) were administered. In the analysis, any changes in performance on the part of the experimental group (those with actual feedback) were compared to those same changes (if any) on the part of the control group (those with no feedback). The experimental and control groups were similar in their mean scores for motivation and quiz performance. There was no significant relationship between motivation and quiz performance. A MANOVA confirmed the similarity of the groups mean scores. It is likely that the participants who received feedback stating that they are above the mean on the fill in the blank quiz in the first part of the study may respond that they are more motivated toward the task than at the beginning of the study. On the other hand, the participants who received feedback stating they are below the mean may respond that they were less motivated towards the task than at the beginning of the study. In line with the hypothesis, motivation for the control group is more similar from time one to time two (r=.793, p<.01) than motivation for the experimental group (r-.662, p<.01). A Fishers Z Test shows that the correlations are significantly different (one tailed test). While motivation changes after the receipt of feedback, performance does not. Quiz performance for the control group is equally correlated from time one to time two (r=.60, p<.01) as is quiz performance for the experimental group (r=.60, p<.01).