The effects of group quizzes on performance and motivation to learn: Two experiments in cooperative learning

This study investigated the effect of group quizzes on accounting students' performance and motivation to learn. While cooperative learning in accounting education has been studied in recent years, the effects on student performance have been mixed [Lancaster, K.A.S., Strand, C.A., 1999. Using the team-learning model in a managerial accounting class: an experiment in cooperative learning. Issues in Accounting Education 16(4), 549-568; Ravenscroft, S., Buckless, F., Hassall, T., 1999. Cooperative learning - A literature guide. Accounting Education 8(2) (1999) 163-176]. Thus, two experiments were conducted (one using an experimental design and the other using a quasi-experimental design) that examined student performance and motivation to learn. The first experiment used a quasi-experimental design to compare the performance and motivation to learn of students who took a series of group quizzes versus students in comparable classes in a prior semester that did not take group quizzes. Using a series of group quizzes in a mixed factorial design, the second experiment examined the performance of both: (1) long-term groups versus ad hoc groups and (2) self-selected groups versus instructor assigned groups. Findings revealed no performance differences across conditions in either the first or second experiments. However, student subjects in the first experiment (using group quizzes) reported a significantly greater motivation to learn and perception of learning than those in the second experiment (not using group quizzes).