Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji joeb.84.3.135-141
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
The Effect of Quiz Timing on Exam Performance
Lester Hadsell
To cite this article: Lester Hadsell (2009) The Effect of Quiz Timing on Exam Performance,
Journal of Education for Business, 84:3, 135-141, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.84.3.135-141
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.84.3.135-141
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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TheEffectofQuizTiming
onExamPerformance
LESTERHADSELL
STATEUNIVERSITYOFNEWYORK,COLLEGEOFONEONTA
ONEONTA,NEWYORK
ABSTRACT. Theauthorreported
ontheeffectivenessofonlinequizzes
inintroductoryfinancecourses.He
foundcompletionofquizzesnearthe
timewhentheteacherpresentsthe
materialinclasslecturestobeassociatedwithamoderateandstatistically
significantincreaseinperformanceon
exams.Feedbacktostudentsontheir
quizperformancedidnotseemtobe
asimportantastimelycompletionof
thequizzes.
Keywords:introductoryfinance,learning,onlinequizzes
Copyright©2008HeldrefPublications
P
roviding students with frequent
feedback and opportunities to
check their understanding is said to be
a hallmark of good education (Walstad, 2006). Opportunities for continual
self-evaluation allow students to diagnose problems or misunderstandings
early, so that they can take corrective
action sooner. Quizzes are one way to
provide such feedback. Quizzes given
nearthetimewhenmaterialiscovered
in class lectures also provide students
with incentive to stay up-to-date with
requiredreadingandstudying,addressing the well-recognized problem of
cramming (Azorlosa & Renner, 2006).
Thus, quizzes can perform two functions: providing timely feedback and
keeping students on track. Moreover,
thecostsofprovidingquizzesarebeing
lowered through recent improvements
in computer technology, which allow
the completion and grading of quizzesoutsidetheclassroomwithminimal
instructoroversight.
Evidence of the effectiveness of
quizzes to promote greater learning is
mixed.HarterandHarter(2004)found
that adding online quizzes in a semester-longintroductoryeconomicscourse
does not increase student performance
on multiple-choice questions on the
finalexamnordoesitincreasestudents’
overall course grades. Nonetheless,
Harter and Harter speculated that even
though access to technological study
aids does not improve student performance, it is possible that it improves
students’ attitudes toward the course,
theinstructor,oreconomicsingeneral.
Likewise,Azorlosa and Renner (2006)
found that regularly scheduled in-class
quizzes improve attendance and student-reportedstudytime,butnotexam
performance.Wilder,Flood,andStromsnes(2001)drewsimilarconclusions.
However, Johnson, Joyce, and Sen
(2002) found that the amount of time
spent by students on repeatable computerized quizzes positively influences
student performance. Lass, Morzuch,
andRogers(2007)foundthatincreased
and immediate feedback from online
(WebCT) quizzes is associated with
small improvements in student exam
scores,althoughtheydidnotspecificallymeasuretheimportanceoftheimmediacy of the feedback. Judge (1999),
arguing for the use of computerized
quizzes,notedthefollowing:
Whenlargenumbersofstudentsaretaking a course it becomes impossible to
markandreturnregulartestsandexercises[but]properlydesignedon-linequizzes
however allow students to test out their
knowledge of a topic and get immediate
feedback. Students appreciate this feature,andalthoughtheremaybelimitsto
thetypesofquestionswhichcanbeconstructed for such quizzes, they can have
animportantmotivationalrole.(para.10)
Grove andWasserman (2006) investigatedtheroleofmotivationandconsistent
January/February2009
135
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work in a controlled study. They found
that graded assignments were associated
withincreasedexamscoresineconomics
for freshmen, but not for other students.
Thegainforfreshmenwasapproximately
4pointsona100-pointexam.Groveand
Wassermanpromotedgradedassignments
asacost-effectivewaytoincreaseperformanceofagroupofstudents(freshmen)
whotypicallyperformworsethanothers
inintroductoryeconomics.
In the present study, I investigated
therelativeimportanceoffeedbackand
consistentstudyeffort.Inthisarticle,I
present findings from a semester-long
introductory finance course with two
sections (junior- and senior-level) in
which students were offered weekly
online quizzes. In short, I found that
completionofthequizzes,regardlessof
the actual grade on them and independentofwhenfeedback(gradesandcomments)isprovided,isassociatedwitha
smallimprovementinexamscores.
A major hypothesis is that the feedbackisnotasimportantasthekeepingup-to-dateeffectofthequizzes.Thatis,
feedbackmaybeimportant,buttheabilityofsomestudentstodelaytheirstudy
hasseriousconsequencesintermsofperformanceonexamsand,presumably,on
learning.AsAzorlosaandRenner(2006)
noted, “One of the primary reasons for
frequenttestingistomotivatestudentsto
studyonamoreregularbasis”(278).It
ishopedthatquizzesleadtomoreconsistent effort and, consequently, greater
learningbystudents.
The genesis of this research came
in the Spring 2005 semester when, in
contrasttopriorsemesters,onlinequizzeswerenotoffered.Examgradeswere
lower than prior semesters, and some
students complained that they were
not being properly prepared for exams
compared with those prior semesters
when the quizzes were offered. Their
complaints revolved around the notion
that part of the instructor’s job was
to keep the students on track, studying each week instead of cramming
before the big exam. Their argument
has some validity, even though they
could achieve the same result (studyingweekly)themselveswithoutoutside
(teacher)intervention.Thus,inthefollowing semester, the Fall 2005 semester, I reimplemented the quiz struc136
JournalofEducationforBusiness
ture.Inthespringof2006,Iperformed
the study subsequently described. In
the sections that follow, I describe the
course and details of the study. I then
presentresultsandconclusions.
METHOD
Two large sections of introductory finance at a medium-sized public
research university in the northeastern United States were examined. The
classesbeganwithatotalof350juniors
andseniors.Idropped41studentsfrom
the study because they withdrew from
thecourseormissedthefirstscheduled
exam.Table1showsthesummarystatistics of the 309 remaining students.
Theclassservedbusinessmajors(49%,
151 students) and minors (48%, 148
students), with 22% (68) of students
concentrating in finance. Almost half
of the students had transferred from
otheruniversities:32%(99)weretransfersfrom2-yearschools,and15%(46)
were transfers from 4-year schools. In
all, 56% (173) were men, and 44%
(136)werewomen.Morethanhalfhad
a cumulative GPA above 3.00 at the
beginning of the semester (all demographic data were reported by the students through an in-class survey at the
beginningofthesemester).
Optional weekly quizzes were made
available to all students. The quizzes
had 5 or 10 questions each and were
TABLE1.SummaryStatisticsinPercentages
Variable
Gender
Male
Female
Major–Minor
Finance
Businessmajor
Businessminor
Other
GPA
0.00–2.00
2.01–2.50
2.51–3.00
3.01–3.50
3.51–4.00
Attendance
Firsthalf
Alllectures
Most
Half
Few
None
Attendance
Secondhalf
Alllectures
Most
Half
Highschool
None
NewYork
UnitedStates
non-UnitedStates
Transfer
No
Yes,
communitycollege
Yes,4-yearcollege
Attendstudysession
Yes
All(N=309)
A–K(n=155)
L–Z(n=154)
56.0
43.7
22.0
27.2
47.9
2.9
2.9
10.0
28.5
38.2
20.4
53.4
26.9
12.0
6.1
1.6
49.8
25.6
14.9
9.4
84.1
5.5
10.4
52.8
60.0
39.4
21.9
21.3
52.9
3.9
1.3
14.2
30.3
33.5
20.6
52.9
29.0
12.9
3.9
1.3
47.1
27.1
16.8
9.0
85.2
3.9
11.0
57.4
32.0
15.2
29.0
13.5
35.1
16.9
60.8
63.9
57.8
51.9
48.1
22.1
33.1
42.9
1.9
4.5
5.8
26.6
42.9
20.1
53.9
24.7
11.0
8.4
1.9
52.6
24.0
13.0
9.7
83.1
7.1
9.7
48.1
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available online (through WebCT) for
unsupervised completion. The quizzes were timed and contained questions with levels of difficulty ranging
from easy to moderately difficult, if
the student had read the text and studiedlecturenotes.Ifstudentscompleted
the quizzes and their quiz average was
higher than their exam average, then
thequizcreditcountedas10%oftheir
course grade. Otherwise, the quizzes
werenotcounted.Furthermore,because
the quizzes were graded on a sliding
scale, full credit was awarded if the
studentsansweredjust80%ofthequestionscorrectly.Studentsweretoldfrom
the beginning of the semester that the
quizzes were not meant for evaluation
but to help them in preparation for the
exams;thatis,asincentivetokeepthem
ontrackorup-to-datewiththeirstudies.
Becausethepurposeofthequizzeswas
toaidstudents’studyeffortratherthan
to evaluate them, I was not concerned
with cheating. In fact, I told students
that I recognized that they could have
their text and notes open when they
tookthequiz,afriendhelpingthem,or
even someone completing the quiz for
them. However, such behavior would
not help them as much as reading the
textandtheirnotesbefore,andthebiggerpurpose—greaterunderstandingand
betterlearningoutcomes(examperformance)—would be lost by such cheating. Whether they did their own work
wastheirchoice,butitwasintheirbest
interest to do so; and the system was
rigged to encourage that behavior (a
small, easily obtainable reward and no
penaltyforpoorperformance).
Because the quizzes were timed (usually 60 min for 10 questions), students
were less likely to start the quiz if they
wereunprepared.Inotherwords,theyhad
tostudy,yetagoalofdoingwellwaseasilyattainable.Thus,gradesonthequizzes
were less important and de-emphasized
relative to actually attempting them. Six
quizzes were available before the first
exam and an additional five were availablebeforethesecondexam.
The remaining 90% of the course
gradecamefromtwoexams.Theexams
consisted of 40–50 multiple-choice
questions,withamixtureofdefinition,
conceptual, and application questions
covering basic finance concepts. The
first exam covered financial assets,
institutions,marketoperations,andrisk
and return. The second exam covered
time value of money, pricing of stocks
andbonds,andcapitalbudgeting.Both
exams were approximately two-thirds
verbalandone-thirdquantitative.
To test the effect of the quizzes, I
splitthestudentsintotwogroupsonthe
basisoftheirlastname.Approximately
half of the students (155) were in the
first group (last name beginning with
lettersA–K),and154studentswerein
the second group (L–Z). Each group
wasgiveninitialaccesstoeachquizat
the same time. In the first half of the
course, the first group was permitted
to complete each quiz in a specified
7-day interval. The second group was
allowedtocompletethequizzesatany
time prior to the day before the first
exam. Each group had separate quizzes(althoughsomequestionswerethe
same on both). Students in the first
group received their scores, answers,
andfeedbackwhenthequizavailability
ended (i.e., weekly). For the second
group, these were not available until
justbeforetheexam.Forstudentswho
didnotsubmitthequizzes,thequizzes
and answers were made available the
daybeforetheexam.Thus,allstudents
had access to the quiz questions and
answers, only the timing differed by
group.Thegroupsreversedrolesforthe
secondhalfofthecourse.
RESULTS
Table 2 shows that roughly 85% of
studentsineachgroupcompletedQuiz
1, although only half of the students
in the second group, the group that
could delay submission, submitted the
quiz when the first group did. As one
may expect, the share of students who
submitted quizzes before Exam 1 was
higher in the group that could delay
submission.Asimilarpatternholdsfor
thesecondhalfofthecourse,although
the delay in submitting quizzes was
even greater for the group able to do
so.Thisincreaseddelaymayhavebeen
becauseofthenatureofthematerialin
thesecondhalf:thebasicsoftimevalue
of money and applications thereof to
pricing stocks and bonds and to capital budgeting. Perhaps students needed
more time to understand the material.
The overall submission rate was lower
inthesecondhalfforbothgroups.
Anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of the quizzes came from some
students’ claims made to the teacher
thattakingthequizzeseachweekforced
them to study. In addition, many studentsinthesecondgroup,withgreater
flexibility(anddelayedfeedback),complained of not being able to see the
answersuntilthedaybeforetheexam.
To measure the impact of the quizzes
on exam scores, a variable (quiz) was
constructed to count, for each student,
the number and timing of quizzes that
weresubmittedbeforeeachexam:
Quizs=Σqsi
(1)
For the group with a 1-week availability, qsi = 1 if quiz i was submitted
by student s, and qsi = 0, otherwise.
For the other group, qsi is the number
of weeks before the exam when the
quizwassubmitted(m)dividedbythe
numberofweekswhenitwasavailable
(n): qsi = m/n. Quiz 1, for example,
was available to the second group for
5weeks.Therefore,forastudentwho
submitted the quiz the 1st week when
it was available, qsi = 5/5 = 1. For a
studentwhosubmittedthequizthe2nd
weekwhenitwasavailable,qsi=4/5=
0.8.Becausethequizzeswereweekly,
n – m is equivalent to the number of
weeksofdelayaftertheoriginalweek
ofavailability.Ifastudentdidnotsubmitthequiz,thenqsi=0.
If students submitted all quizzes
beforethefirstexaminthe1stweekof
availability, then Quizs = 6. If students
inthesecondgroupwaiteduntilthelast
week to submit all quizzes, then Quizs
= 1/5 + 1/4 + 1/3 + 1/2 + 1/1 + 1/1 =
3.2833. That is, Quiz 1 was available
for5weeks,Quiz2wasavailablefor4
weeks,andsoon(Quizzes5and6were
available beginning 1 week before the
exam). I purposely neglected the students’ performance on the quizzes and
focused only on when they completed
them.IcomputedoneQuizsforthefirst
halfofthecourseandaseparateonefor
thesecondhalf(countingonlysecondhalfquizzes).
The primary hypothesis I tested was
thatsimplycompletingthequizzeswill
have benefits. If this is true, then the
January/February2009
137
variablequizwillbecorrelatedwiththe
exam score. To test the hypothesis, I
performedordinaryleastsquaresregressionsonthebasisofthefollowingequation(thesubscriptsisdroppedforease
ofexposition):
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Exam score = β0 + β1Attend +
β2Gender+β3Finance+β4GPA+β5NY
State+β6Transfer+β7Study+β8Group
+β9Quiz
(2)
whereAttend=1ifthestudentattended
mostorallofthelectures,0otherwise;
Gender = 1 for men, 0 for women;
Finance = 1 for students whose major
was finance, 0 otherwise; GPA is the
student’s approximate GPA at the
beginning of the semester (self-reported); NYS = 1 if the student graduated
from a high school in NewYork state,
0otherwise;Transfer=1ifthestudent
transferred from another school, 0 otherwise;Study=1ifthestudentattended
the study session provided just before
theexam,0otherwise.Besidesquiz,the
additionalvariablescontrolforthepossibility that certain students are more
likely to submit quizzes (and submit
them sooner, if in the second group).
Forthesecondhalf,Iusedthestudents’
score on Exam 1 as an additional controlvariabletodealwiththisbias.
ResultsareshowninTable3.Forthe
first exam, the coefficient on quiz is
statistically significant at 1.64, indicatingthatthenumberandtimingofquizzes submitted was associated with an
increasedscoreontheexam(100-point
scale).Whetherandwhenquizzeswere
submittedwasamoresignificantinfluence of performance on the first exam
than were all other factors examined,
exceptthestudent’smajor(financestudents performed much better than others) and beginning-of-semester GPA.
With six quizzes available, the total
score increase on Exam 1 attributable
to submitting quizzes was as much as
9.84points.
Although I found completing the
quizzes to be associated with higher
examscores,whetherstudentsreceived
timelyfeedbackwasnot.Notonlywas
β8=0,indicatingnosignificantdifference between groups, but a Chow test
indicated that there was no significant
difference in the coefficient on quiz
(1.46forGroup1vs.1.89forGroup2).
138
JournalofEducationforBusiness
TABLE2.TabulationsofQuizSubmissions
Group
Quiznumber(firsthalfofsemester)
1
A–K
Submitted 131.0
Didnot
submit
24.0
Submitted
(%)
84.5
L–Z
Submitted
1stweek 65.0
1week
later
22.0
2weeks
later
8.0
3weeks
later
7.0
4weeks
later
30.0
Didnot
submit
22.0
Submitted
(%)
85.7
Submitted
1stweek
(%)
42.2
Group
2
3
4
5
6
105.0
119.0
122.0
110.0
110.0
50.0
36.0
33.0
45.0
45.0
67.7
76.8
78.7
71.0
71.0
31.0
43.0
37.0
116.0
119.0
23.0
25.0
81.0
—
—
24.0
58.0
—
—
—
49.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
27.0
28.0
36.0
38.0
35.0
82.5
81.8
76.6
75.3
77.3
20.1
27.9
24.0
75.3
77.3
Quiznumber(secondhalfofsemester)
7
A–K
Submitted
1stweek 32.000
1week
later
3.000
2weeks
later
12.000
3weeks
later
24.000
4weeks
later
34.000
Didnot
submit
50.000
Submitted
(%)
67.700
Submitted
1stweek
(%)
20.600
L–Z
Submitted 102.000
Didnot
submit
52.000
Submitted
0.662
8
9
10
11
21.000
17.000
28.000
95.000
14.000
31.000
71.000
—
29.000
54.000
—
—
41.000
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
50.000
53.000
56.000
60.000
67.700
65.800
63.900
61.300
13.500
11.000
18.100
61.300
99.000
73.000
91.000
67.000
55.000
0.643
81.000
0.474
63.000
0.591
87.000
0.435
Thus,noevidencewasfoundtosupport
the notion that earlier feedback on the
quizzes increased student learning, as
measuredonexams.
The findings for the second exam
were similar. In this case, I added the
student’s score on the first exam as a
control variable, and the coefficient on
quiz was a statistically significant 0.81
(see Table 4). With five quizzes available, the total score increase on Exam
2attributabletosubmittingquizzeswas
TABLE3.RegressionResultsWithExam1ScoreastheDependentVariable
Variable
Coefficient
Intercept
Quiz
Group
Attend
Gender
Finance
GPA
NY
Transfer
Study
51.91
1.64
–0.59
0.86
0.68
–6.13
7.55
2.53
1.38
–0.44
SE
t(299)
p
4.50
0.33
1.17
1.54
1.18
1.40
1.18
1.54
1.15
1.18
11.54
4.92
–0.50
0.56
0.58
–4.37
6.38
1.64
1.20
–0.37
.00
.00
.62
.58
.56
.00
.00
.10
.23
.71
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
Note.ResultsarebasedonEquation2.AdjustedR2=.291;SER=9.795;observations=309.
TABLE4.RegressionResultsWithExam2ScoreastheDependentVariable
Variable
Intercept
Quiz
Group
Attend
Gender
Finance
GPA
NY
Transfer
Study
Exam1score
Coefficient
SE
t(299)
p
36.22
0.81
1.51
3.44
1.28
–1.18
1.15
2.59
4.42
–3.99
0.49
5.12
0.35
1.10
1.40
1.12
1.37
1.19
1.48
1.09
1.13
0.05
7.08
2.34
1.37
2.45
1.14
–0.87
0.96
1.75
4.07
–3.52
9.14
.00
.02
.17
.01
.26
.39
.34
.08
.00
.00
.00
Note.ResultsarebasedonEquation2.AdjustedR2=.433;SER=9.305;observations=309.
as much as 4.05 points. I also found
thatattendanceatlectureswasstrongly
associated with higher exam scores,
that transfer students earned higher
examgrades,andthatattendanceatthe
studysessionwasassociatedwithlower
scores. Once again, a Chow test indicated that there was no significant differenceinthecoefficientonquiz(1.04
forGroup1vs.0.68forGroup2).
Althoughthecoefficientonquizwas
statistically the same for both groups,
themeasuredvaluewashigher(inboth
halvesofthecourse)forthegroupthat
wasallowedflexibility.Inotherwords,
not only was waiting for feedback not
associatedwithlowerexamscores,but
therewasalsoweakevidencethatitmay
beassociatedwithhigherscores.Maybe
students who had to wait for feedback
were more likely to think about the
questions and their answers longer
(especially those answers to questions
aboutwhichtheyhaddoubt).
Without quizzes or other study aids
(such as assignments), students relied
on other methods to prepare them for
exams. Students in the same course in
the spring of 2005, for example, were
providedsampleexams(withanswers),
but no quizzes or assignments. The
instructor believed that students may
have attempted to memorize answers
to old exam questions instead of using
them as a study aid and that they may
have waited until the last moment to
review those exams and read their text
andstudynotes.Scoresfromthespring
2005 semester were lower (slightly on
thefirstexam,significantlyonthesecond) compared with the spring 2006
semester being examined. Without the
consistent (i.e., weekly) work, student
performance suffers. This supposition
issupportedbythefindingsreportedin
Tables3and4.
Conclusion
Findings on the effect on exam
gradesofonlinequizzesofferedintwo
large sections of introductory finance
courses indicate that timely, consistent
completionofquizzesisassociatedwith
increasedexamscores.Inparticular,the
closer to when the material is covered
in class that the student completes the
quizzes,thegreatertheimpactofsimply
completingthequizzes.Weeklyquizzes
appeartokeepstudentsup-to-datewith
their studies, providing some students
with a measure of self-discipline that
they find difficult to provide for themselves.Ialsofoundthattimelyanswers
toandfeedbackonquizquestionsisnot
associated with increased exam scores.
In fact, weak evidence suggests that
making students wait for answers is
associatedwithhigherexamscores.
The ability to delay quiz submission was found to encourage more
quiz taking, although delaying submission reduced the benefits of the quiz
(because earlier submission is associatedwithhigherexamscores).Whatis
interesting is that the share of students
who submitted the quizzes declined as
the semester progressed, even though
the quizzes appear to boost their exam
grade.Futureresearchmaycreateaway
toexplorethisresult.
Thefindingspresentedinthisarticle
arebasedontwolargesectionsofintroductory finance, but there is no reason that they cannot be generalized to
otherintroductory,orevenotherundergraduate,courses.Futureresearchmay
also investigate the following: (a) the
importanceofclasssize(Aretheeffects
similarinsmallerclasses?),(b)whether
theeffectsdifferbyin-classversusoutof-class quizzes, and (c) whether the
effects differ depending on if the quizzes are supervised versus unsupervised
andiftheyareindividualversusgroup.
Thepresentresearchprovidessolidevidence that quizzes do in fact benefit
students. Quizzes seem to provide an
incentive to students that they cannot
provideforthemselves.
January/February2009
139
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Recommendationsforachievingsimilarresultsincludethefollowing:
1.Clearly and repeatedly tell the students that the purpose of the quizzes is not evaluative, but rather to
keep them on track. Head off the
issue of cheating: Tell students that
cheatingdefeatsthepurpose,butitis
theirchoice.Choicehasbeenshown
intheeducationalpsychologyliterature to be an important source of
intrinsic motivation (Anderman &
Midgley, 1998; Brooks, Freiburger,
&Grotheer,1998;Svinicki,2005).
2.Provide small, easily obtainable
rewards.Therewardsshouldnotbeso
largeastomakethechoiceofwhether
to complete the quizzes a Hobson’s
choice;thatis,nochoiceatall.
3.Provide a mix ranging from easy to
challengingquestions.Ifmostofthe
questions are fairly easy, then given
amodicumofstudying,studentswill
be rewarded for keeping up-to-date.
A couple of more difficult questions
(perhaps 20% of the total) will get
students thinking a little more deeply and keep the more able students
interested.Tellstudentsthattheexam
questionsmaybeabitmorechallengingonthewhole.
4.Minimizethepenaltyfornotsubmitting all the quizzes because students
occasionally have technical or personalproblems.Iuseaslidingscale
gradingsystempartlyforthisreason.
Students can miss a quiz and some
additional questions without being
penalizeddirectly.
5.For online quizzes, allow students to
open the quiz as many times as they
140
JournalofEducationforBusiness
want.Thatpermissionheadedoffthe
effects of computer-related problems
(e.g., crashes, blocked pop-up windows).Icountedthefirstsubmission.
6.Have a time limit. A time limit on
the quiz (I used 5 min per question)
providesincentiveforstudentstopreparebeforebeginningthequiz.
Last,Waite(2007)providedahelpful
guide to creating, administering, and
analyzing online quizzes on WebCT.
Textbooks often come with question
banks that can be loaded onto WebCT
(or similar platforms, such as Blackboard), lowering the cost of creating
reasonable quizzes. Quizzes need not
belongorcomplicated,especiallyifthe
purpose is to keep students up-to-date
withtheirstudying.Analysisofthequiz
results can also provide the instructor
withfeedbackconcerninghowwellstudentsunderstanddifferentconcepts.
NOTE
Dr.LesterHadsellisanassistantprofessorof
Economics at the State University of NewYork,
CollegeatOneonta,whereheteachesintroductory
andintermediatemicroeconomics,publicfinance,
andgovernmentandbusiness.Hehasalsotaught
economics and finance at SUNY Albany, Siena
College,andRensselaerPolytechnicInstitute.His
researchinterests include economicsand finance
education, electricity markets, and local public
finance.
Correspondence concerning this article should
beaddressedtoLesterHadsell,DivisionofEconomics and Business, State University of New
York, College of Oneonta, 108 Ravine Parkway,
Oneonta,NY13820,USA.
E-mail:[email protected]
REFERENCES
Anderman,L.H.,&Midgley,C.(1998).Motivation and middle school students. Champaign,
IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and
Early Childhood Education, Champaign.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
ED421281)
Azorlosa, J. L., & Renner, C. H. (2006). The
effect of announced quizzes on exam performance. Journal of Instructional Psychology,
33,278–283.
Brooks, S. R., Freiburger, S. M., & Grotheer,
D. R. (1998). Improving elementary student
engagement in the learning process through
integrated thematic instruction. Unpublished
master’s thesis, Saint Xavier University, Chicago. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No.ED421274)
Grove,W.A.,&Wasserman,T.(2006).Incentives
andstudentlearning:Anaturalexperimentwith
economics problem sets. American Economic
Review,96,447–452.
Harter,C.L.,&Harter,J.F.R.(2004).Teaching
withtechnology:Doesaccesstocomputertechnology increase student achievement? Eastern
EconomicJournal,30,507–514.
Johnson, D. L., Joyce, P., & Sen, S. (2002).
An analysis of student effort and performance
in the finance principles course. Journal of
AppliedFinance,12(2),67–72.
Judge,G.(1999).TheproductionanduseofonlineWebquizzesforeconomics.Computersin
Higher Education Economics Review, 13(1).
Retrieved May 1, 2007, from http://econltsn.
ilrt.bris.ac.uk/cheer/ch13_1/ch13_1p21.htm
Lass, D., Morzuch, B., & Rogers, R. (2007).
Teaching with technology to engage students
and enhance learning (Working Paper No.
2007–11). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Resource Economics. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from
http://www.umass.edu/resec/workingpapers
Svinicki,M.D.(2005,February).Studentgoalorientation,motivation,andlearning(IDEAPaper
#41).Manhattan,KS:IDEACenter.Retrieved
May 1, 2007, from http://www.theideacenter.
org/IDEAPapers
Waite,J.(2007,February).Weeklyquizzingreally
works!Onlinesoftwaremakesiteasy.Techdirections,66,16–21.
Walstad,W.B.(2006).Assessmentofstudentlearningineconomics.InW.E.Becker,M.Watts,and
S.R.Becker(Eds.),Teachingeconomics:More
alternatives to chalk and talk (pp. 193–212).
Northhampton,MA:EdwardElgar.
Wilder, D. A., Flood, W. A., & Stromsnes, W.
(2001).Theuseofrandomextracreditquizzes
toincreasestudentattendance.JournalInstructionalPsychology,28,117–120.
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ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
The Effect of Quiz Timing on Exam Performance
Lester Hadsell
To cite this article: Lester Hadsell (2009) The Effect of Quiz Timing on Exam Performance,
Journal of Education for Business, 84:3, 135-141, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.84.3.135-141
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.84.3.135-141
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 22:48
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
TheEffectofQuizTiming
onExamPerformance
LESTERHADSELL
STATEUNIVERSITYOFNEWYORK,COLLEGEOFONEONTA
ONEONTA,NEWYORK
ABSTRACT. Theauthorreported
ontheeffectivenessofonlinequizzes
inintroductoryfinancecourses.He
foundcompletionofquizzesnearthe
timewhentheteacherpresentsthe
materialinclasslecturestobeassociatedwithamoderateandstatistically
significantincreaseinperformanceon
exams.Feedbacktostudentsontheir
quizperformancedidnotseemtobe
asimportantastimelycompletionof
thequizzes.
Keywords:introductoryfinance,learning,onlinequizzes
Copyright©2008HeldrefPublications
P
roviding students with frequent
feedback and opportunities to
check their understanding is said to be
a hallmark of good education (Walstad, 2006). Opportunities for continual
self-evaluation allow students to diagnose problems or misunderstandings
early, so that they can take corrective
action sooner. Quizzes are one way to
provide such feedback. Quizzes given
nearthetimewhenmaterialiscovered
in class lectures also provide students
with incentive to stay up-to-date with
requiredreadingandstudying,addressing the well-recognized problem of
cramming (Azorlosa & Renner, 2006).
Thus, quizzes can perform two functions: providing timely feedback and
keeping students on track. Moreover,
thecostsofprovidingquizzesarebeing
lowered through recent improvements
in computer technology, which allow
the completion and grading of quizzesoutsidetheclassroomwithminimal
instructoroversight.
Evidence of the effectiveness of
quizzes to promote greater learning is
mixed.HarterandHarter(2004)found
that adding online quizzes in a semester-longintroductoryeconomicscourse
does not increase student performance
on multiple-choice questions on the
finalexamnordoesitincreasestudents’
overall course grades. Nonetheless,
Harter and Harter speculated that even
though access to technological study
aids does not improve student performance, it is possible that it improves
students’ attitudes toward the course,
theinstructor,oreconomicsingeneral.
Likewise,Azorlosa and Renner (2006)
found that regularly scheduled in-class
quizzes improve attendance and student-reportedstudytime,butnotexam
performance.Wilder,Flood,andStromsnes(2001)drewsimilarconclusions.
However, Johnson, Joyce, and Sen
(2002) found that the amount of time
spent by students on repeatable computerized quizzes positively influences
student performance. Lass, Morzuch,
andRogers(2007)foundthatincreased
and immediate feedback from online
(WebCT) quizzes is associated with
small improvements in student exam
scores,althoughtheydidnotspecificallymeasuretheimportanceoftheimmediacy of the feedback. Judge (1999),
arguing for the use of computerized
quizzes,notedthefollowing:
Whenlargenumbersofstudentsaretaking a course it becomes impossible to
markandreturnregulartestsandexercises[but]properlydesignedon-linequizzes
however allow students to test out their
knowledge of a topic and get immediate
feedback. Students appreciate this feature,andalthoughtheremaybelimitsto
thetypesofquestionswhichcanbeconstructed for such quizzes, they can have
animportantmotivationalrole.(para.10)
Grove andWasserman (2006) investigatedtheroleofmotivationandconsistent
January/February2009
135
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
work in a controlled study. They found
that graded assignments were associated
withincreasedexamscoresineconomics
for freshmen, but not for other students.
Thegainforfreshmenwasapproximately
4pointsona100-pointexam.Groveand
Wassermanpromotedgradedassignments
asacost-effectivewaytoincreaseperformanceofagroupofstudents(freshmen)
whotypicallyperformworsethanothers
inintroductoryeconomics.
In the present study, I investigated
therelativeimportanceoffeedbackand
consistentstudyeffort.Inthisarticle,I
present findings from a semester-long
introductory finance course with two
sections (junior- and senior-level) in
which students were offered weekly
online quizzes. In short, I found that
completionofthequizzes,regardlessof
the actual grade on them and independentofwhenfeedback(gradesandcomments)isprovided,isassociatedwitha
smallimprovementinexamscores.
A major hypothesis is that the feedbackisnotasimportantasthekeepingup-to-dateeffectofthequizzes.Thatis,
feedbackmaybeimportant,buttheabilityofsomestudentstodelaytheirstudy
hasseriousconsequencesintermsofperformanceonexamsand,presumably,on
learning.AsAzorlosaandRenner(2006)
noted, “One of the primary reasons for
frequenttestingistomotivatestudentsto
studyonamoreregularbasis”(278).It
ishopedthatquizzesleadtomoreconsistent effort and, consequently, greater
learningbystudents.
The genesis of this research came
in the Spring 2005 semester when, in
contrasttopriorsemesters,onlinequizzeswerenotoffered.Examgradeswere
lower than prior semesters, and some
students complained that they were
not being properly prepared for exams
compared with those prior semesters
when the quizzes were offered. Their
complaints revolved around the notion
that part of the instructor’s job was
to keep the students on track, studying each week instead of cramming
before the big exam. Their argument
has some validity, even though they
could achieve the same result (studyingweekly)themselveswithoutoutside
(teacher)intervention.Thus,inthefollowing semester, the Fall 2005 semester, I reimplemented the quiz struc136
JournalofEducationforBusiness
ture.Inthespringof2006,Iperformed
the study subsequently described. In
the sections that follow, I describe the
course and details of the study. I then
presentresultsandconclusions.
METHOD
Two large sections of introductory finance at a medium-sized public
research university in the northeastern United States were examined. The
classesbeganwithatotalof350juniors
andseniors.Idropped41studentsfrom
the study because they withdrew from
thecourseormissedthefirstscheduled
exam.Table1showsthesummarystatistics of the 309 remaining students.
Theclassservedbusinessmajors(49%,
151 students) and minors (48%, 148
students), with 22% (68) of students
concentrating in finance. Almost half
of the students had transferred from
otheruniversities:32%(99)weretransfersfrom2-yearschools,and15%(46)
were transfers from 4-year schools. In
all, 56% (173) were men, and 44%
(136)werewomen.Morethanhalfhad
a cumulative GPA above 3.00 at the
beginning of the semester (all demographic data were reported by the students through an in-class survey at the
beginningofthesemester).
Optional weekly quizzes were made
available to all students. The quizzes
had 5 or 10 questions each and were
TABLE1.SummaryStatisticsinPercentages
Variable
Gender
Male
Female
Major–Minor
Finance
Businessmajor
Businessminor
Other
GPA
0.00–2.00
2.01–2.50
2.51–3.00
3.01–3.50
3.51–4.00
Attendance
Firsthalf
Alllectures
Most
Half
Few
None
Attendance
Secondhalf
Alllectures
Most
Half
Highschool
None
NewYork
UnitedStates
non-UnitedStates
Transfer
No
Yes,
communitycollege
Yes,4-yearcollege
Attendstudysession
Yes
All(N=309)
A–K(n=155)
L–Z(n=154)
56.0
43.7
22.0
27.2
47.9
2.9
2.9
10.0
28.5
38.2
20.4
53.4
26.9
12.0
6.1
1.6
49.8
25.6
14.9
9.4
84.1
5.5
10.4
52.8
60.0
39.4
21.9
21.3
52.9
3.9
1.3
14.2
30.3
33.5
20.6
52.9
29.0
12.9
3.9
1.3
47.1
27.1
16.8
9.0
85.2
3.9
11.0
57.4
32.0
15.2
29.0
13.5
35.1
16.9
60.8
63.9
57.8
51.9
48.1
22.1
33.1
42.9
1.9
4.5
5.8
26.6
42.9
20.1
53.9
24.7
11.0
8.4
1.9
52.6
24.0
13.0
9.7
83.1
7.1
9.7
48.1
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
available online (through WebCT) for
unsupervised completion. The quizzes were timed and contained questions with levels of difficulty ranging
from easy to moderately difficult, if
the student had read the text and studiedlecturenotes.Ifstudentscompleted
the quizzes and their quiz average was
higher than their exam average, then
thequizcreditcountedas10%oftheir
course grade. Otherwise, the quizzes
werenotcounted.Furthermore,because
the quizzes were graded on a sliding
scale, full credit was awarded if the
studentsansweredjust80%ofthequestionscorrectly.Studentsweretoldfrom
the beginning of the semester that the
quizzes were not meant for evaluation
but to help them in preparation for the
exams;thatis,asincentivetokeepthem
ontrackorup-to-datewiththeirstudies.
Becausethepurposeofthequizzeswas
toaidstudents’studyeffortratherthan
to evaluate them, I was not concerned
with cheating. In fact, I told students
that I recognized that they could have
their text and notes open when they
tookthequiz,afriendhelpingthem,or
even someone completing the quiz for
them. However, such behavior would
not help them as much as reading the
textandtheirnotesbefore,andthebiggerpurpose—greaterunderstandingand
betterlearningoutcomes(examperformance)—would be lost by such cheating. Whether they did their own work
wastheirchoice,butitwasintheirbest
interest to do so; and the system was
rigged to encourage that behavior (a
small, easily obtainable reward and no
penaltyforpoorperformance).
Because the quizzes were timed (usually 60 min for 10 questions), students
were less likely to start the quiz if they
wereunprepared.Inotherwords,theyhad
tostudy,yetagoalofdoingwellwaseasilyattainable.Thus,gradesonthequizzes
were less important and de-emphasized
relative to actually attempting them. Six
quizzes were available before the first
exam and an additional five were availablebeforethesecondexam.
The remaining 90% of the course
gradecamefromtwoexams.Theexams
consisted of 40–50 multiple-choice
questions,withamixtureofdefinition,
conceptual, and application questions
covering basic finance concepts. The
first exam covered financial assets,
institutions,marketoperations,andrisk
and return. The second exam covered
time value of money, pricing of stocks
andbonds,andcapitalbudgeting.Both
exams were approximately two-thirds
verbalandone-thirdquantitative.
To test the effect of the quizzes, I
splitthestudentsintotwogroupsonthe
basisoftheirlastname.Approximately
half of the students (155) were in the
first group (last name beginning with
lettersA–K),and154studentswerein
the second group (L–Z). Each group
wasgiveninitialaccesstoeachquizat
the same time. In the first half of the
course, the first group was permitted
to complete each quiz in a specified
7-day interval. The second group was
allowedtocompletethequizzesatany
time prior to the day before the first
exam. Each group had separate quizzes(althoughsomequestionswerethe
same on both). Students in the first
group received their scores, answers,
andfeedbackwhenthequizavailability
ended (i.e., weekly). For the second
group, these were not available until
justbeforetheexam.Forstudentswho
didnotsubmitthequizzes,thequizzes
and answers were made available the
daybeforetheexam.Thus,allstudents
had access to the quiz questions and
answers, only the timing differed by
group.Thegroupsreversedrolesforthe
secondhalfofthecourse.
RESULTS
Table 2 shows that roughly 85% of
studentsineachgroupcompletedQuiz
1, although only half of the students
in the second group, the group that
could delay submission, submitted the
quiz when the first group did. As one
may expect, the share of students who
submitted quizzes before Exam 1 was
higher in the group that could delay
submission.Asimilarpatternholdsfor
thesecondhalfofthecourse,although
the delay in submitting quizzes was
even greater for the group able to do
so.Thisincreaseddelaymayhavebeen
becauseofthenatureofthematerialin
thesecondhalf:thebasicsoftimevalue
of money and applications thereof to
pricing stocks and bonds and to capital budgeting. Perhaps students needed
more time to understand the material.
The overall submission rate was lower
inthesecondhalfforbothgroups.
Anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of the quizzes came from some
students’ claims made to the teacher
thattakingthequizzeseachweekforced
them to study. In addition, many studentsinthesecondgroup,withgreater
flexibility(anddelayedfeedback),complained of not being able to see the
answersuntilthedaybeforetheexam.
To measure the impact of the quizzes
on exam scores, a variable (quiz) was
constructed to count, for each student,
the number and timing of quizzes that
weresubmittedbeforeeachexam:
Quizs=Σqsi
(1)
For the group with a 1-week availability, qsi = 1 if quiz i was submitted
by student s, and qsi = 0, otherwise.
For the other group, qsi is the number
of weeks before the exam when the
quizwassubmitted(m)dividedbythe
numberofweekswhenitwasavailable
(n): qsi = m/n. Quiz 1, for example,
was available to the second group for
5weeks.Therefore,forastudentwho
submitted the quiz the 1st week when
it was available, qsi = 5/5 = 1. For a
studentwhosubmittedthequizthe2nd
weekwhenitwasavailable,qsi=4/5=
0.8.Becausethequizzeswereweekly,
n – m is equivalent to the number of
weeksofdelayaftertheoriginalweek
ofavailability.Ifastudentdidnotsubmitthequiz,thenqsi=0.
If students submitted all quizzes
beforethefirstexaminthe1stweekof
availability, then Quizs = 6. If students
inthesecondgroupwaiteduntilthelast
week to submit all quizzes, then Quizs
= 1/5 + 1/4 + 1/3 + 1/2 + 1/1 + 1/1 =
3.2833. That is, Quiz 1 was available
for5weeks,Quiz2wasavailablefor4
weeks,andsoon(Quizzes5and6were
available beginning 1 week before the
exam). I purposely neglected the students’ performance on the quizzes and
focused only on when they completed
them.IcomputedoneQuizsforthefirst
halfofthecourseandaseparateonefor
thesecondhalf(countingonlysecondhalfquizzes).
The primary hypothesis I tested was
thatsimplycompletingthequizzeswill
have benefits. If this is true, then the
January/February2009
137
variablequizwillbecorrelatedwiththe
exam score. To test the hypothesis, I
performedordinaryleastsquaresregressionsonthebasisofthefollowingequation(thesubscriptsisdroppedforease
ofexposition):
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
Exam score = β0 + β1Attend +
β2Gender+β3Finance+β4GPA+β5NY
State+β6Transfer+β7Study+β8Group
+β9Quiz
(2)
whereAttend=1ifthestudentattended
mostorallofthelectures,0otherwise;
Gender = 1 for men, 0 for women;
Finance = 1 for students whose major
was finance, 0 otherwise; GPA is the
student’s approximate GPA at the
beginning of the semester (self-reported); NYS = 1 if the student graduated
from a high school in NewYork state,
0otherwise;Transfer=1ifthestudent
transferred from another school, 0 otherwise;Study=1ifthestudentattended
the study session provided just before
theexam,0otherwise.Besidesquiz,the
additionalvariablescontrolforthepossibility that certain students are more
likely to submit quizzes (and submit
them sooner, if in the second group).
Forthesecondhalf,Iusedthestudents’
score on Exam 1 as an additional controlvariabletodealwiththisbias.
ResultsareshowninTable3.Forthe
first exam, the coefficient on quiz is
statistically significant at 1.64, indicatingthatthenumberandtimingofquizzes submitted was associated with an
increasedscoreontheexam(100-point
scale).Whetherandwhenquizzeswere
submittedwasamoresignificantinfluence of performance on the first exam
than were all other factors examined,
exceptthestudent’smajor(financestudents performed much better than others) and beginning-of-semester GPA.
With six quizzes available, the total
score increase on Exam 1 attributable
to submitting quizzes was as much as
9.84points.
Although I found completing the
quizzes to be associated with higher
examscores,whetherstudentsreceived
timelyfeedbackwasnot.Notonlywas
β8=0,indicatingnosignificantdifference between groups, but a Chow test
indicated that there was no significant
difference in the coefficient on quiz
(1.46forGroup1vs.1.89forGroup2).
138
JournalofEducationforBusiness
TABLE2.TabulationsofQuizSubmissions
Group
Quiznumber(firsthalfofsemester)
1
A–K
Submitted 131.0
Didnot
submit
24.0
Submitted
(%)
84.5
L–Z
Submitted
1stweek 65.0
1week
later
22.0
2weeks
later
8.0
3weeks
later
7.0
4weeks
later
30.0
Didnot
submit
22.0
Submitted
(%)
85.7
Submitted
1stweek
(%)
42.2
Group
2
3
4
5
6
105.0
119.0
122.0
110.0
110.0
50.0
36.0
33.0
45.0
45.0
67.7
76.8
78.7
71.0
71.0
31.0
43.0
37.0
116.0
119.0
23.0
25.0
81.0
—
—
24.0
58.0
—
—
—
49.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
27.0
28.0
36.0
38.0
35.0
82.5
81.8
76.6
75.3
77.3
20.1
27.9
24.0
75.3
77.3
Quiznumber(secondhalfofsemester)
7
A–K
Submitted
1stweek 32.000
1week
later
3.000
2weeks
later
12.000
3weeks
later
24.000
4weeks
later
34.000
Didnot
submit
50.000
Submitted
(%)
67.700
Submitted
1stweek
(%)
20.600
L–Z
Submitted 102.000
Didnot
submit
52.000
Submitted
0.662
8
9
10
11
21.000
17.000
28.000
95.000
14.000
31.000
71.000
—
29.000
54.000
—
—
41.000
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
50.000
53.000
56.000
60.000
67.700
65.800
63.900
61.300
13.500
11.000
18.100
61.300
99.000
73.000
91.000
67.000
55.000
0.643
81.000
0.474
63.000
0.591
87.000
0.435
Thus,noevidencewasfoundtosupport
the notion that earlier feedback on the
quizzes increased student learning, as
measuredonexams.
The findings for the second exam
were similar. In this case, I added the
student’s score on the first exam as a
control variable, and the coefficient on
quiz was a statistically significant 0.81
(see Table 4). With five quizzes available, the total score increase on Exam
2attributabletosubmittingquizzeswas
TABLE3.RegressionResultsWithExam1ScoreastheDependentVariable
Variable
Coefficient
Intercept
Quiz
Group
Attend
Gender
Finance
GPA
NY
Transfer
Study
51.91
1.64
–0.59
0.86
0.68
–6.13
7.55
2.53
1.38
–0.44
SE
t(299)
p
4.50
0.33
1.17
1.54
1.18
1.40
1.18
1.54
1.15
1.18
11.54
4.92
–0.50
0.56
0.58
–4.37
6.38
1.64
1.20
–0.37
.00
.00
.62
.58
.56
.00
.00
.10
.23
.71
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
Note.ResultsarebasedonEquation2.AdjustedR2=.291;SER=9.795;observations=309.
TABLE4.RegressionResultsWithExam2ScoreastheDependentVariable
Variable
Intercept
Quiz
Group
Attend
Gender
Finance
GPA
NY
Transfer
Study
Exam1score
Coefficient
SE
t(299)
p
36.22
0.81
1.51
3.44
1.28
–1.18
1.15
2.59
4.42
–3.99
0.49
5.12
0.35
1.10
1.40
1.12
1.37
1.19
1.48
1.09
1.13
0.05
7.08
2.34
1.37
2.45
1.14
–0.87
0.96
1.75
4.07
–3.52
9.14
.00
.02
.17
.01
.26
.39
.34
.08
.00
.00
.00
Note.ResultsarebasedonEquation2.AdjustedR2=.433;SER=9.305;observations=309.
as much as 4.05 points. I also found
thatattendanceatlectureswasstrongly
associated with higher exam scores,
that transfer students earned higher
examgrades,andthatattendanceatthe
studysessionwasassociatedwithlower
scores. Once again, a Chow test indicated that there was no significant differenceinthecoefficientonquiz(1.04
forGroup1vs.0.68forGroup2).
Althoughthecoefficientonquizwas
statistically the same for both groups,
themeasuredvaluewashigher(inboth
halvesofthecourse)forthegroupthat
wasallowedflexibility.Inotherwords,
not only was waiting for feedback not
associatedwithlowerexamscores,but
therewasalsoweakevidencethatitmay
beassociatedwithhigherscores.Maybe
students who had to wait for feedback
were more likely to think about the
questions and their answers longer
(especially those answers to questions
aboutwhichtheyhaddoubt).
Without quizzes or other study aids
(such as assignments), students relied
on other methods to prepare them for
exams. Students in the same course in
the spring of 2005, for example, were
providedsampleexams(withanswers),
but no quizzes or assignments. The
instructor believed that students may
have attempted to memorize answers
to old exam questions instead of using
them as a study aid and that they may
have waited until the last moment to
review those exams and read their text
andstudynotes.Scoresfromthespring
2005 semester were lower (slightly on
thefirstexam,significantlyonthesecond) compared with the spring 2006
semester being examined. Without the
consistent (i.e., weekly) work, student
performance suffers. This supposition
issupportedbythefindingsreportedin
Tables3and4.
Conclusion
Findings on the effect on exam
gradesofonlinequizzesofferedintwo
large sections of introductory finance
courses indicate that timely, consistent
completionofquizzesisassociatedwith
increasedexamscores.Inparticular,the
closer to when the material is covered
in class that the student completes the
quizzes,thegreatertheimpactofsimply
completingthequizzes.Weeklyquizzes
appeartokeepstudentsup-to-datewith
their studies, providing some students
with a measure of self-discipline that
they find difficult to provide for themselves.Ialsofoundthattimelyanswers
toandfeedbackonquizquestionsisnot
associated with increased exam scores.
In fact, weak evidence suggests that
making students wait for answers is
associatedwithhigherexamscores.
The ability to delay quiz submission was found to encourage more
quiz taking, although delaying submission reduced the benefits of the quiz
(because earlier submission is associatedwithhigherexamscores).Whatis
interesting is that the share of students
who submitted the quizzes declined as
the semester progressed, even though
the quizzes appear to boost their exam
grade.Futureresearchmaycreateaway
toexplorethisresult.
Thefindingspresentedinthisarticle
arebasedontwolargesectionsofintroductory finance, but there is no reason that they cannot be generalized to
otherintroductory,orevenotherundergraduate,courses.Futureresearchmay
also investigate the following: (a) the
importanceofclasssize(Aretheeffects
similarinsmallerclasses?),(b)whether
theeffectsdifferbyin-classversusoutof-class quizzes, and (c) whether the
effects differ depending on if the quizzes are supervised versus unsupervised
andiftheyareindividualversusgroup.
Thepresentresearchprovidessolidevidence that quizzes do in fact benefit
students. Quizzes seem to provide an
incentive to students that they cannot
provideforthemselves.
January/February2009
139
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:48 11 January 2016
Recommendationsforachievingsimilarresultsincludethefollowing:
1.Clearly and repeatedly tell the students that the purpose of the quizzes is not evaluative, but rather to
keep them on track. Head off the
issue of cheating: Tell students that
cheatingdefeatsthepurpose,butitis
theirchoice.Choicehasbeenshown
intheeducationalpsychologyliterature to be an important source of
intrinsic motivation (Anderman &
Midgley, 1998; Brooks, Freiburger,
&Grotheer,1998;Svinicki,2005).
2.Provide small, easily obtainable
rewards.Therewardsshouldnotbeso
largeastomakethechoiceofwhether
to complete the quizzes a Hobson’s
choice;thatis,nochoiceatall.
3.Provide a mix ranging from easy to
challengingquestions.Ifmostofthe
questions are fairly easy, then given
amodicumofstudying,studentswill
be rewarded for keeping up-to-date.
A couple of more difficult questions
(perhaps 20% of the total) will get
students thinking a little more deeply and keep the more able students
interested.Tellstudentsthattheexam
questionsmaybeabitmorechallengingonthewhole.
4.Minimizethepenaltyfornotsubmitting all the quizzes because students
occasionally have technical or personalproblems.Iuseaslidingscale
gradingsystempartlyforthisreason.
Students can miss a quiz and some
additional questions without being
penalizeddirectly.
5.For online quizzes, allow students to
open the quiz as many times as they
140
JournalofEducationforBusiness
want.Thatpermissionheadedoffthe
effects of computer-related problems
(e.g., crashes, blocked pop-up windows).Icountedthefirstsubmission.
6.Have a time limit. A time limit on
the quiz (I used 5 min per question)
providesincentiveforstudentstopreparebeforebeginningthequiz.
Last,Waite(2007)providedahelpful
guide to creating, administering, and
analyzing online quizzes on WebCT.
Textbooks often come with question
banks that can be loaded onto WebCT
(or similar platforms, such as Blackboard), lowering the cost of creating
reasonable quizzes. Quizzes need not
belongorcomplicated,especiallyifthe
purpose is to keep students up-to-date
withtheirstudying.Analysisofthequiz
results can also provide the instructor
withfeedbackconcerninghowwellstudentsunderstanddifferentconcepts.
NOTE
Dr.LesterHadsellisanassistantprofessorof
Economics at the State University of NewYork,
CollegeatOneonta,whereheteachesintroductory
andintermediatemicroeconomics,publicfinance,
andgovernmentandbusiness.Hehasalsotaught
economics and finance at SUNY Albany, Siena
College,andRensselaerPolytechnicInstitute.His
researchinterests include economicsand finance
education, electricity markets, and local public
finance.
Correspondence concerning this article should
beaddressedtoLesterHadsell,DivisionofEconomics and Business, State University of New
York, College of Oneonta, 108 Ravine Parkway,
Oneonta,NY13820,USA.
E-mail:[email protected]
REFERENCES
Anderman,L.H.,&Midgley,C.(1998).Motivation and middle school students. Champaign,
IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and
Early Childhood Education, Champaign.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
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Azorlosa, J. L., & Renner, C. H. (2006). The
effect of announced quizzes on exam performance. Journal of Instructional Psychology,
33,278–283.
Brooks, S. R., Freiburger, S. M., & Grotheer,
D. R. (1998). Improving elementary student
engagement in the learning process through
integrated thematic instruction. Unpublished
master’s thesis, Saint Xavier University, Chicago. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
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Grove,W.A.,&Wasserman,T.(2006).Incentives
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Harter,C.L.,&Harter,J.F.R.(2004).Teaching
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