Providing Item Feedback in Computer-Based Tests: Effects of Initial Success and Failure

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of providing item feedback on student achievement test performance and anxiety, and how these effects may be moderated by the amount of success and students experience on the initial items of the test. Introductory statistics students were randomly assigned to six forms of a computer-based algebra test that differed in terms of (a) the difficulty of the first five items, and (b) the type of item feedback provided. Although test performance was not affected significantly by differences among the test forms, student anxiety levels were significantly increased when administered the test form using difficult initial items and providing item feedback along with a running score total. Implications for the use of item feedback in computer-based testing are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bradshaw, G. D. and Gaudry, E. (1968). The effect of a single experience of success or failure on test anxiety. Australian Journal of Psychology, 20, 219-223.

Gaudry, E. and Poole, C. (1972). The effects of an experience of success or failure on state anxiety level. The Journal of Experimental Education, 41(1), 18-21.

Morris L. W. and Fulmer, R. S. (1976). Test anxiety (worry and emotionality) changes during academic testing as a function of feedback and test importance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 817-824.

Plake, B. S. and Parker, C. S. (1982). The development and validation of a revised version of the mathematics anxiety rating scale. Educational And Psychological Measurement, 42, 551-557.

Rocklin, T. and Thompson, J. M. (1985). Interactive effects of test anxiety, test difficulty, and feedback. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(3), 368-372.

Schneider, H. G. and Ferrante, A. P. (1983). Luck and learning: Feedback contingencies and initial success in verbal discrimination learning. The Journal of Psychology, 113, 53-59.

Spielberger, C. D. , Gorsuch, R. L. , and Lushene, R. E. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Strang, H. R. and Rust, J. O. (1973). The effects of immediate knowledge of results and task definition on multiple-choice answering. Journal of Experimental Education, 42(1), 77-80.

Wise, S. L. , Plake, B. S. , Eastman, L. A. , Boettcher, L. L. , and Lukin, M. E. (1986). The effects of item feedback and examinee control on test performance in a computer-administered test. Computers in Human Behavior, 2, 21-29.

10.

Wise, S. L. and Wise, L. A. (1987). Comparison of computer-administered and paper-administered achievement tests with elementary school children. Computers in Human Behavior, 3, 15-20.