Choice increased task engagement and end-of-semester interest, and task engagement mediated the effect of choice on course performance¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2–r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The choice contrast had main effects on task engagement (β = 0.10, p = .030) and interest in biology (β = 0.06, p = .048). → Priniski 2019 q3 i? The indirect effect of choice on performance through task engagement was significant (p = .029); the indirect effect through interest was not (p = .051). → Priniski 2019 (2)

Evidence¶

Priniski 2019¶

Priniski, S. J., Rosenzweig, E. Q., Canning, E. A., Hecht, C. A., Tibbetts, Y., Hyde, J. S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2019). The Benefits of Combining Value for the Self and Others in Utility-Value Interventions. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000343

q3 · i? · causal · r2

In the RCT's motivational analyses, choice-condition students wrote longer assignments (Mwords = 518.26, SD = 122.90) and reported higher interest (M = 5.72, SD = 1.09) than fixed-type students (Mwords = 489.43, SD = 123.63; M = 5.60, SD = 1.12), per the quoted main effects.

"There were main effects of the choice contrast on task engagement, β = 0.10, p = .030, and on students’ level of interest in biology at the end of the semester, β = 0.06, p = .048"

Priniski 2019 (2)¶

Priniski, S. J., Rosenzweig, E. Q., Canning, E. A., Hecht, C. A., Tibbetts, Y., Hyde, J. S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2019). The Benefits of Combining Value for the Self and Others in Utility-Value Interventions. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000343

q3 · i? · causal · r3

Path-model mediation analysis in the same RCT tested whether motivational variables carried the choice effect on grades. Task engagement, not interest, was the significant mediator, per the quoted indirect-effect results.

"We found a significant indirect effect of the choice contrast on performance through task engagement (p = .029), but the indirect effect of the choice contrast through interest in biology was not significant (p = .051)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Giving students a choice between self-focused and other-focused utility-value assignments produced higher course grades than fixing the assignment type — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Seductive detail amount did not increase learners' intrinsic motivation in either study — related
• In a college biology course, students assigned a variety of self- and other-focused utility-value assignments earned higher course grades than students who wrote the same assignment type three times — related