ABSTRACT

Four decades of research have shown that students’ low test-taking effort is a serious threat to the validity of score-based inferences from low-stakes, group-based educational assessments. This meta-analysis sought to identify effective interventions for improving students’ test-taking effort in such contexts. Included studies (a) used a treatment-control group design; (b) administered a low-stakes group-based educational assessment; (c) employed an intervention to improve test-taking motivation; and (d) evaluated test-taking effort and/or test performance as outcomes. The analysis included 53 studies (N = 59,096) that produced 60 and 105 effect sizes of test-taking effort and test performance, respectively. On average, interventions were found to improve test-taking effort and test performance by 0.13 standard deviations (SD) each. The largest gains in test-taking effort were observed when providing external incentives followed by increasing test relevance, while no significant differences were found between these two intervention types in improving test performance. Furthermore, negligible impact was detected on both dependent variables for interventions that modified assessment design or promised feedback. Recommendations for future research and practice are discussed.

摘要

四年的研究表明，学生的低应试努力严重威胁到基于低风险、基于群体的教育评估的基于分数的推断的有效性。这项荟萃分析旨在确定有效的干预措施，以提高学生在这种情况下的应试努力。纳入的研究 (a) 使用了治疗-对照组设计；(b) 进行低风险的基于群体的教育评估；(c) 采用干预措施来提高应试动机；(d) 评估应试努力和/或测试性能作为结果。该分析包括 53 项研究 (N = 59,096)，分别产生了 60 和 105 个对应试努力和测试性能的影响大小。平均而言，发现干预措施可将应试工作和考试成绩提高 0.13 个标准差（SD ) 每个。当提供外部激励，然后增加测试相关性时，应试努力的最大收益被观察到，而这两种干预类型在提高测试性能方面没有显着差异。此外，对修改评估设计或承诺反馈的干预措施的两个因变量的影响都可以忽略不计。讨论了对未来研究和实践的建议。