Lakowske, Areanna M2018-07-182018-07-1820152016-05https://hdl.handle.net/11299/198192A Plan B Research Project Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Minnesota by Areanna Marie Lakowske in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degreee of Master of Arts, May 2016. This item has been modified from the original to remove the signature page present.The purpose of the present study was to examine the use of combined positive and corrective feedback statements to improve performance in the presence of a challenging “stretch” goal. A within-subjects design was used to expose participants to four feedback statement sequences: (1) no feedback, (2) PCP (positive, corrective, positive), (3) CPP (corrective, positive, positive), and (4) PPC (positive, positive, corrective). Providing participants with a combination of positive and corrective feedback statements, regardless of sequence, was hypothesized to lead to higher task performance than not providing feedback. In addition, although PCP (i.e., the feedback “sandwich”) is the most well known feedback statement sequence, no differences among the variations of statement sequencing were hypothesized. Ad hoc analyses were conducted to examine the most preferred feedback statement sequence and type of feedback (positive or corrective), as well as the influence that core self-evaluation, job satisfaction, goal commitment, and stress on performance. Results revealed that (1) task performance was higher (overall) when feedback was provided versus when no feedback was provided and (2) statistically significant difference in task performance did not exist across the three feedback statement sequences. Despite no differential effects on performance, 47% of participants identified the session during which they received the CPP feedback statement sequence as their most preferred. Further, 53% of participants self-reported they preferred positive feedback, while 25% preferred corrective feedback. Individual preferences for feedback statement sequences support the need for open communication between the feedback receiver and provider to increase task performance.enFeedback sequenceFeedback sandwichChallenging goalFeedback preferencePlan Bs (project-based master's degrees)Master of ArtsMaster of Arts in Psychological ScienceDepartment of PsychologyCollege of Education and Human Service ProfessionsUniversity of Minnesota DuluthIndustrial-Organizational trackScholarly Text or Essay