Good or Bad News First? The Effect of Feedback Order on Performance and Motivation

Last registered on August 26, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Good or Bad News First? The Effect of Feedback Order on Performance and Motivation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008953
Initial registration date
February 12, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 24, 2022, 1:55 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
August 26, 2023, 7:23 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Lavinia Kinne
Affiliation
DIW Berlin, Germany
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-02-09
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
feedback, university students, field experiment
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
While feedback is an important part of many real-life situations, how to give feedback remains a hotly debated topic. This paper uses a field experiment to understand whether the ordering of feedback elements matters. University students get positive and negative feedback on exam practice questions, in varying order. The main outcomes are performance and motivation, further outcomes are beliefs and study behavior.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kinne, Lavinia. 2023. "Good or Bad News First? The Effect of Feedback Order on Performance and Motivation." AEA RCT Registry. August 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8953-1.3
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This project uses a field experiment to study whether the order of feedback matters for motivation and performance of university students. After solving practice questions for a specific exam, students receive positive and a negative feedback on their performance in random order. This way, a causal effect of the ordering on the respective outcomes performance and motivation can be obtained. Furthermore, a control group receives no negative or positive feedback on their performance.
Intervention Start Date
2022-02-13
Intervention End Date
2022-02-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Motivation to study for a specific exam (pre-, between, and post-feedback)
- Performance in practice questions (pre- and post-feedback) and the respective exam (post-feedback)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes:
- Beliefs about performance in exam and practice questions (pre-, between, and post-feedback)
- Study behavior (hours dedicated to studying as well as topics focused on) (pre-, between, and post-feedback)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Students receive practice questions seven and three days before the exam. Feedback on the first set of practice questions is given three days before the exam and right before solving the second set of practice questions. One day after the exam, students receive a questionnare with feedback recall as well as questions on their actual study behavior and how they perceived the practice questions and the feedback provided in this study. The first questionnaire (seven days before exam) also collects background characteristics.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done via STATA software (random number generator)
Randomization Unit
Individually, by course and gender
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
n/a
Sample size: planned number of observations
around 350 university students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
20% of the sample (or at least 50 students) will be in a control group with no feedback, the rest is split equally between the two treatment groups who receive positive and negative feedback in varying order (40% each).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Commission, Department of Economics, University of Munich
IRB Approval Date
2022-02-09
IRB Approval Number
2021-19
Analysis Plan

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