On 11/3 Bob Herdegen wrote:
(snip)
>We've been searching the literature (using PsycLit and ERIC databases)
>for any reports which relate to the accuracy of students' perceptions
>of their academic performance (particularly in terms of grades, but
>also in terms of behaviors which relate to academic performance), but
>have found relatively little work that is germane...and nothing that
>deals with such perceptions of student-athletes.
(snip)
Bob -
In grad school I was fascinated with metacognition (the skill the student is
trying to assess). Recently authors (especially Charles Weaver, III) have
started using the term "calibration of comprehension." I don't have a lot of
resources but I'm including three citations with abstracts that might help you
get started.
Kirsten
Glenberg, A. M., Sanocki, T., Epstein, W., & Morris, C. (1987). Enhancing
calibration of comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
116, 119-136.
(Summary) Calibration of comprehension is the correlation between subjective
assessments of knowledge gained from reading and performance on an objective
test. Contrary to intuition, this correlation is typically close to zero.
This article is structured around four points concerning calibration of
comprehension. First, poor calibration of comprehension is the rule, rather
than the exception, a fact that has been repeatedly demonstrated in our
laboratory and in others. Poor calibration is also typical in at least one
other domain: solving insight problems. The high levels of calibration
reported in studies on the calibration of probabilities and feeling-of knowing
research may be dependent on using feedback from taking the test to assess the
probability of correct performance on the test.
Weaver, III, C.A. (1990). Constraining factors in calibration of
comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 16, 214-222.
(Abst.) Two experiments were conducted to examine the factors leading to poor
calibration of comprehension. In Exp. 1, the basic finding of poor
calibration was replicated with paragraphs from which a single inference
verification was the test of comprehension. It was shown that this lack of
calibration could not be attributed to subject's answering the inferences on
the basis of previous world knowledge. Exp. 2 demonstrated that previous
studies which assess comprehension with a signal inference seriously
underestimate the level of calibration. As the number of test items per text
increases, so does the level of calibration. Finally, mathematical
simulations demonstrate that even when the underlying calibration curves are
identical, simply adding items to the comprehension test will produce a higher
and more reliable estimate of calibration of comprehension. Reanalysis of
these data shows that this effect is a formal property of the measures and not
simply a psychological testing effect.
Kirsten L. Rewey
Department of Psychology
St. Mary's University of Minnesota
700 Terrace Heights, Box 1464
Winona, Minnesota 55987
(507) 457-6991
