Peers, Perceptions, and Putting Forth Effort: The Role of Normative Beliefs in Low-Stakes Testing

Riley K. Herr, Dena A. Pastor, & Sara J. Finney   |    Volume 21 Issue 2  |   

Low examinee effort on institutional accountability tests compromises the data accuracy institutions depend on to understand and support student learning. Research suggests effort on low-stakes tests is influenced by students’ personal normative beliefs about expending effort, empirical expectations of peers’ effort, and normative expectations of peers’ beliefs about giving effort (Finney & Pastor, 2025a; Finney et al., 2025). Prior studies of first-year and mid-career college students found misalignment of perceived norms: students believed effort should be expended, but also believed peers expended little effort and condoned expending little effort. These studies aggregated results across students, overlooking potential differences across academic majors. Thus, we investigated seniors’ normative beliefs of expending effort on institutional accountability tests and if beliefs differed across majors. Normative beliefs showed little variability between majors. Results aligned with aforementioned prior studies. Findings suggest recalibrations of norms should occur early in college and be implemented broadly across majors.

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