Psychological Effects of Immediate Knowledge of Results and Adaptive Ability Testing.
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of providing immediate knowledge of results (KR) and adaptive testing on test anxiety and test-taking motivation. Also studied was the accuracy of student perceptions of the difficulty of adaptive and conventional tests administered with or without immediate knowledge of results. Testees were 350 college students divided into high- and low-ability groups and randomly assigned to one of four test strategies by KR conditions. The ability level of examinees was found to be related to their reported levels of motivation and to differences in reported motivation under the different testing conditions. Low-ability examinees reported significantly higher levels of motivation on the stradaptive test than on the conventional test, while the reported motivation of high-ability examinees did not differ as a function of testing strategies. The effect of knowledge of results on reported Motivation also differed as a function of ability level. These results suggest that adaptive testing creates a psychological environment for testing which is more equivalently motivating for examinees of all ability levels and results in a greater standardization of test-taking environment, than does conventional testing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA027170
Entities
People
- David J. Weiss
- Nancy E. Betz
Organizations
- University of Minnesota