Relative Performance Feedback and Long-Term Tasks – Experimental Evidence from Higher Education

Arbeitspapier

We present first experimental evidence that relative performance feedback improves both the speed and quality with which challenging long-term tasks are completed. Providing university students with ongoing relative feedback on accumulated course credits accelerates graduation by 0.12 SD, and also improves grades by 0.063 SD. Treatment effects are concentrated among students with medium pre-treatment graduation probabilities: when these students are informed about an above-average performance, their outcomes improve – otherwise their outcomes deteriorate. Combined with survey evidence, this pattern of results suggests that learning about own ability is a plausible mechanism.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 10346

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Field Experiments ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Analysis of Education ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Education and Inequality
• Subject: relative performance feedback ; rank ; natural field experiment ; higher education ; perceived ability ; belief updating

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Brade, Raphael ; Himmler, Oliver ; Jaeckle, Robert
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/271990
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:46 AM CET