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¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Writing a variety of self- and other-focused UV assignments produced higher course grades than writing the same type three times (β = 0.07, p = .024). → Priniski 2019
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 (N = 590), regression within a path-modeling framework tested five orthogonal contrasts on final course grades. The variety contrast was significant: "β = 0.07, p = .024"; students writing varied assignments averaged M = 3.05 (SD = 0.69) versus M = 2.85 (SD = 0.80) for same-type writers.
"There was a significant main effect of the variety contrast, which compared the two conditions in which students wrote a variety of self- and other-focused UV assignments to the two conditions in which students wrote only one type of assignment, on course grades, β = 0.07, p = .024"
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 — related
- The overall intervention contrast comparing all UV conditions to control was not significant, and no individual UV condition significantly outperformed control in the dummy-coded model — related
- Among students with low performance expectations, self-first variety (a self-focused essay followed by other-focused letters) produced higher grades than other-first variety — related
- In replication analyses, the variety conditions were particularly beneficial for students with low prior GPAs, while the same-type-only conditions had negligible effect sizes — related
- UV writing assignments showed more personal focus, more social and cognitive process content, and higher articulated utility value than control summary assignments — related
- Choice increased task engagement and end-of-semester interest, and task engagement mediated the effect of choice on course performance — related
- A utility-value writing intervention increases course grades in introductory biology relative to a summarizing control — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
uv-variety-structure-higher-grades |
title |
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 |
description |
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 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2019 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-23 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — priniski-2019 |
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