College Classroom Incentives and Academic Performance

cedures on academic performance (study patterns and examination performance). Four sections of an introductory sociology course were assigned experimental conditions involving different incentives. Because randomization of students was not possible, controls involved measurement of extraneous variables and an ABA-within-group design. The major methodological problems confronted were: (1) variation in instructor behavior; (2) within-group variation in student performance; (3) comparative examinations; (4) ineffective collection of study-time data; and (5) the brevity ofperiods to effectively manipulate experimental conditions. The general findings were: (1) two of four incentive conditions were effective in systematically modifying examination and study-time performances (grades not being one of them); (2) most of the information acquired in the course was lost fifteen weeks after course completion, regardless of experimental conditions.