The Effects of Goal Orientation and Feedback on the Notetaking Habits and Performance of College Students

Notetaking is viewed by high school and college students as a tool to help them record and organize information presented by their instructors in lecture format. Research has shown that students who take notes consistently outperform students who do not use this strategy on tests of their knowledge. Although previous studies have identified factors contributing to individual differences in notetaking, these works have largely focused on cognitive skills while neglecting to consider the role that a students' motivation may play in their notetaking habits. The current study is an extension of lecture notetaking research (Peverly et al, 2007; Peverly et al., 2010; Reddington, 2011) that applies principles of Elliot's trichotomous goal orientation theory to investigate the question of student motivation. Specifically, this dissertation's primary purpose was to determine if goal orientation and feedback affect students' notetaking habits or performance on measures of their knowledge. Hypotheses related to the established relationships between gender and notetaking and notetaking and performance were also explored. This dissertation is unique in that it is the only study to examine the effects of goal orientation on the specific strategy of notetaking through the use of an experimental design.;A sample of 231 undergraduate students participated in the two-phase experiment. In phase I, participants were randomly assigned to one of three goal orientation groups, asked to listen to a videotaped lecture and to write a detailed summary of what they had learned. In phase II, participants were randomly assigned to receive contrived feedback stating that their phase I written summary was either above or below an arbitrary performance standard. After reviewing their feedback, participants were again asked to listen to a videotaped lecture and write a detailed summary of what they had learned. Independent variables included gender, goal orientation, and feedback. Dependent variables included quantity of idea units in students' notes and quantity of idea units in students' written summaries.;Results indicated that factors related to goal orientation, feedback, and gender did impact students' notetaking quantity and performance. Note quantity was predicted by gender, goal orientation, the gender x goal orientation interaction, and the feedback x goal orientation interaction. Quantity of idea units in written summary was predicted by note quantity, the gender x goal orientation interaction, and the note quantity x goal orientation interaction. Future research should continue to examine the specific impact of goal orientation and feedback on notetaking habits.