Effects of Three Instructional Formats on Task Performance

Abstract

In an extension of an experiment conducted by Green and Powell (1988) three different instructional formats were used to administer a series of psychomotor tasks to 120 subjects. 60 men and 60 women were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. All the subjects were asked to perform the same series of psychomotor tasks but the instructional format varied across the three groups. Subjects assigned to Group 1 heard the instructions; Group 2 read the instructions; and Group 3 heard and read the instructions simultaneously. A two-way analysis of variance was nonsignificant which suggests that psychomotor task performance is not dependent on how instructions are presented and that sex has no differential effects on the psychomotor task of marble placement. These results are consistent with prior research.