Authors: Butler, R.; Nisan, M. · Year: 1986 · Tier: RCT (class-randomised) · DOI/URL: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.3.210 (Journal of Educational Psychology 78(3), 210–216)

Links to claims

Limits (1)

Source note

Claim	Basis
C4	Grades alone matched task comments on a later quantitative speed task; comments won on the qualitative task.

Syntes: Effects of No Feedback, Task-Related Comments, and Grades on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance (1986)

Källa: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.3.210 (Journal of Educational Psychology 78(3), 210–216)

Verified content

[full text] 261 sixth-grade pupils in nine classes (three classes per condition) in Israel; after Sessions 1 and 2 they got task-related written comments, numerical grades or nothing; Session 3 (2 hours after Session 2) was done with no feedback expected (p. 211–212).
[full text] Quantitative word-construction task (Task A): Session 3 scores similar in the comments and grades groups, both above no feedback (contrast t = 12.30, p < .001); comments above grades only for the number of long words (p < .013) (p. 212–213).
[full text] Qualitative divergent-thinking task (Task B): comments group above grades and no feedback (t = 15.68, p < .001); grades no better than nothing except fluency (p. 213).

Limits

[assessment] Class-level randomisation with nine classes, analysed at pupil level; "later" means hours to two days, not a delayed test weeks later.

Added 2026-10-16 by the project (week run 2026-10-16). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.

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