Performance feedback plays an important role in management accounting, as it is integral to performance measurement and evaluation. The timing of performance feedback is a critical characteristic of accounting information systems and is often a choice variable for managers and management accountants. In this dissertation, I examine the relation between the timing of outcome-based performance feedback and individual performance. I find that immediate outcome-based performance feedback, while benefiting current performance, can limit individuals’ propensity to seek learning opportunities, reducing future performance. Further, I find that feedback given after intermediate delays benefits future performance with a small cost to current performance. Lastly, feedback given after too long of a delay not only limits current performance, but also limits future performance due to the effects of information overload. Overall, I find support for an inverted-U relation between the timing of performance feedback and future performance. In a two-period setting in which the timing of outcome-based performance feedback is manipulated in the first period and feedback is unavailable in the second period, I find that participants given intermediate feedback perform significantly better in the second period than those given feedback either after no delay or after a long delay. I also investigate the processes by which performance is affected by the timing of performance feedback. These results contribute to a better understanding of the effect of performance feedback timing in complex task environments and provide insight into how delays in performance feedback can benefit or harm future performance. / text

Master of Science / Physics / Nobel S. Rebello / With the progressive development of the educational technology, online learning systems are becoming a prominent feature in education today. We conducted a study to explore the effects of visual cues and outcome feedback on learning experience of students in an online environment. Our study was a follow up study to a previous research, which demonstrated the effectiveness of visual cues and feedback to improve physics problem solving. The participants (N=164) were enrolled in an algebra-based introductory level physics course at a U.S. Midwestern University. Participants completed a sequence of conceptual physics problems in an online environment. The study used a between subjects 2×2 quasi experimental design. Two groups of participants received visual cues and two did not receive cues. Two of the groups of participants received outcome feedback and two did not receive feedback. The effect of visual cues, feedback and their combination on the correctness of students’ responses to the online questions was analyzed. Implications of the study for online learning systems are discussed.

Conflict Management in Pluralistic Societies: Aspect of Judgment Analysis. Abstract Interpersonal Conflict in pluralistic societies has been analyzed into¡§Fact Conflict¡¨(mutual interference in beliefs) and¡§Value Conflict¡¨ (mutual interference in preferences ), The interpersonal conflict can be caused by purely cognitive factors, that¡¦s to say, the fact conflict and value conflict can be treated together under the general rubric of¡§Cognitive Conflict¡¨. The growing of locally environmental disputes concerning large scale publicdecision-makings, such as the cases of constructions of Fifth Naphtha Cracking Plant,Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, and Meinung Dam etc., have raised enormous socialcost in recent years. One of the main causes of above mentioned disputes is cognitiveconflict. Among various efforts against problem of cognitive conflict, The Social JudgmentTheory, SJT, and the Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, CCP, have been confirmed to beone of the effective approaches to settle the problem of cognitive conflict. Social Judgment Theory is a descriptive and normative approach to judgment and decision making developed by Kenneth Hammond (1965,1975,1996) on the basis of Lens Model. Social Judgment Theory has been applied to the analysis of multiple cue probability learning, interpersonal conflict, interpersonal learning, and social policy decisions. It has also produced the policy decision aid. Moreover, Social Judgment Theory emphasizes that the¡§Judgment¡¨is generally more effective (reaches a higher achievement level), and more efficient(reaches a given achievement level more quickly) by utilizing of cognitive feedback while making decision. Cognitive Conflict Paradigm is to provide a scenario to uncover information concerning cognitive conflict. It¡¦s an experimental laboratory method that involves two stages: (1)Training stage in which two subjects are trained in such a way that each learns to think differently about a common set of problems, and(2)Conflict stage in which the two subjects are brought together and attempt to arrive at a joint decisions concerning the problems. Through Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, the investigator can observe two persons offering conflicting answers, efforts to cope with differences and arrive at a joint decision, in fact, observe the effect of the experience on their cognitive change and the efforts to solve subsequent problems. In this study, a series of simulated decision making task about Meinung Dam construction and the Social Judgment Theory & Cognitive Conflict Paradigm have been employed and tested by way of a laboratory quasi-experiment. The research fingings of this study include: 1. Dual cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of individual decision quality. 2. Single cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of individual decision quality. 3. Single cognitive feedback is as insignificant as outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of joint decision quality. 4. Dual cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the elimination of cognitive conflict. 5. Single cognitive feedback is as insignificant as outcome feedback in regard to the elimination of cognitive conflict. 6. The most constructive result obtained in this study was that we had presented a conceptual framework, research paradigm, and conflict management procedure generated from the application of Social Judgment Theory & Cognitive Conflict Paradigm to analyze and solve the conflict problems in pluralistic societies. These framework, paradigm, and procedure should be useful to subsequent cognitive conflict researchers and practical public decision making. Keywords¡GPluralistic Societies, Judgment Analysis ,Lens Model, Social Judgment Theory, Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, Outcome Feedback, Cognitive Feedback.

Doctor of Philosophy / Physics / Nobel S. Rebello / This dissertation investigates the effects of visual cueing and outcome feedback on students' performance, confidence, and visual attention as they solve conceptual physics problems that contain diagrams. The research investigation had two parts. In the first part of the study, participants solved four sets of conceptual physics problems that contain diagrams; each set contained an initial problem, four isomorphic training problems, a near transfer problem (with a slightly different surface feature as the training problems), and a far transfer problem (with considerably different surface feature as the training problems). Participants in the cued conditions saw visual cues overlaid on the training problem diagrams, while those in the feedback conditions were told if their responses were correct or incorrect. In the second part of the study, the same students solved the near and far transfer problems from the first study two weeks later. We found that the combination of visual cueing and outcome feedback improved performance on the near transfer and delayed near transfer problems compared to the initial problem, with no significant difference between them. Thus, the combination of visual cueing and outcome feedback can promote immediate learning and retention. For students who demonstrated immediate learning and retention on the near and far transfer problems, visual cues improved the automaticity of extracting relevant information from the transfer and delayed transfer problem diagrams, while outcome feedback helped automatize the extraction of problem-relevant information on the delayed far transfer problem diagram only. We also showed that students' reported confidence in solving a problem is positively related to their correctness on the problem, and their visual attention to the relevant information on the problem diagram. The most interesting thing was how changes in confidence occurred due to outcome feedback, which were also related to changes in accuracy and visual attention. The changes in confidence included both reductions in confidence and increases in confidence due to feedback when the student was wrong (first) and right (later). This seems to have led to learning (change in accuracy), and also changes in attentional allocation (more attention to the thematically relevant area).

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The early identification of non-responding psychotherapy clients and reducing their treatment failure rates are the principal functions of Clinical Support Tools (CST). Nearly two decades of patient-focused research have produced several "evidence-based treatment monitoring" (EBTM) practices, that measure individual patients' responses to theory-guided treatments and alert therapists of clients who are at risk of eventual treatment failure. Clinical Support Tools are a quality management program that bundle several EBTM practices, and have been shown to improve outcomes in failing clients (Shimokawa, Lambert & Smart, 2010). Appropriately, EBTM has generated significant interest as it expands notions of what constitutes evidence-based practice with non-responding patients (APA, 2006). There is a practical need to disseminate Clinical Support Tools to a wider audience of clinicians and practice environments. The current study was designed to advance understanding of CST mechanisms by providing detailed, qualitative data that demonstrate how CST procedures are utilized in routine practice. Eleven doctoral-level psychologists experienced in using Clinical Support Tools at a university counseling center were interviewed about their use of Clinical Support Tools with a recent non-responding client and about their general experiences with past non-responding clients. Clinicians' responses were categorized as Actions, Decisions, or Attitudes, and were subjected to inductive, thematic content analysis. Results were interpreted to indicate which CST functions were active or inactive in the therapists' routine care. Findings indicated that therapists utilized CST resources to monitor patient status, to identify problems that may have explained therapy non-response, and to initiate corrective interventions. Although it was clear that therapists used the CST signal-alarm system to initiate a problem assessment and corrective intervention, it was less clear whether therapists used CST's to determine significance of client change or to determine the client's prognosis. This observation needs to be confirmed through further investigation. Future research that quantifies CST utilization and investigates implementation-outcome relationships is recommended. Finally, practical avenues for increasing the influence and prevalence of EBTM practices in behavioral healthcare are discussed.