Advisor

• Dr. Min Liu

Degree

• Doctoral

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of interactive review in multimedia training on motivation and job performance in survey research workers. Forty-seven subjects were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: Active Review and Passive Review. Subjects in both treatments received identical instruction with a review at the end of each section of training. In the Passive Review treatment, the review was a passive display requiring no action on the part of the subject. The Active Review treatment received the same content in an interactive review in which subjects were required to perform some type of overt action. At the completion of the training, each group was administered a posttest of 40 items covering the content of the instruction and the Inventory of Motivational Materials Survey (DAMS). Each subject's job performance was measured after the training. ANOVAs were used to compare scores on the posttest, IMMS, and job performance measures. Correlational studies were done to examine the relationships between the three measures. A small qualitative study was conducted to explore the results of the quantitative study. The findings of this study were (a) there were no significant differences between the posttest scores for the two groups, (b) there were no significant differences between the IMMS scores for the two groups, (c) there were no significant differences between the job performance measures for the two groups. Correlational studies showed that there were no significant relationships between any of these three measures. Qualitative data provided evidence that subjects found the interactions engaging and meaningful. Conclusions suggest that the lack of significant results for the posttest and job performance may be due to the interactions in the interactive review not facilitating responses that closely map the performance requirements of the desired learning outcomes. The DAMS score were higher for the interactive review treatment for all but one subcategory. Although the differences were not statistically significant, they lend evidence, along with the qualitative data, to support to the conclusion that interactions can help to direct the learner's attention, increase the relevancy of instruction and provide learners with satisfaction in their performance.