The effect of feedback complexity on university students’ achievement and intrinsic motivation

Abstract

Feedback is an important mechanism in education to improve the achievement and intrinsic motivation of students. Unfortunately, the feedback provided in university education is often perceived by students as inadequate. To uncover whether certain levels of feedback complexity can aid achievement and motivation, and thus be used to make feedback more effective, this study examined the effects of a simple versus complex feedback type. Additionally, the influence of background knowledge and one’s academic self-concept were investigated. An online experiment was carried out with 42 university students from the Netherlands. Participants read a text about the academic self-concept and received feedback varying in complexity on practice questions about the text. A week later, they completed a follow-up knowledge test. The results did not show a statistically significant impact of feedback complexity nor a mediating influence of background knowledge on either achievement, motivation or academic self-concept. The effect of reading a text about the academic self-concept could also not be confirmed. In conclusion, it is recommended to replicate the study with better validated measures and a larger sample.