Obstacles as Building Blocks: Font Disfluency and Performance on Economics Exams

Obstacles as Building Blocks: Font Disfluency and Performance on Economics Exams

Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Franklin G. Mixon
Copyright: © 2021 |Pages: 11
DOI: 10.4018/IJABE.2021100101
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Abstract

Although individuals generally do not wish to be expected to do good work with bad tools, there are some activities for which there are advantages to having to face certain types of obstacles. One of these is mental processing, an important facet of cognitive psychology. This study extends the work of cognitive psychologists by introducing font disfluency, or the use of difficult-to-read font or typeface, to the exam-taking phase of economics principles courses. Difference-in-means tests indicate that students completing exams that were formatted in the difficult-to-read font scored as many as 9.6 points higher than their counterparts who completed exams formatted in the traditional font. On the other hand, regression analysis controlling for student demographics and human capital failed to produce a statistically significant result. The authors believe, however, that this result is likely due to the omission of student effort in the regression specification. As such, further research on the impact of font disfluency on exam performance is clearly warranted.
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2. Prior Literature: A Brief Review

The focus of the present study involves two streams of the academic literature. The first of these is the cognitive psychology literature, as it relates to font disfluency. The second of these is the economic education literature, as it relates to factors determining exam performance.

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