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

Last registered on February 24, 2022

View Trial History

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.

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

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

2022-03-31

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. 2022. "Good or Bad News First? The Effect of Feedback Order on Performance and Motivation." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8953-1.0

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 (Hidden)

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

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

Randomization Method

Randomization is done via STATA software (random number generator)

Randomization Unit

Individually, by course and gender

Was the treatment clustered?

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