Loss of feedback information given during oral presentations

Abstract

Oral presentation of a research proposal for a Master's thesis can be stressful for psychology students. During and after the presentation, students often miss or forget feedback to their research proposal. The study tested whether information loss after receiving feedback depended upon the amount of supervisor feedback, the retention time, and experience in giving Master's thesis research proposal presentations. Students had to present a research proposal three times and feedback was recorded by a record clerk. After each presentation students were obliged to send their remembered feedback to their supervisors. Forty-three Master's students gave 101 presentations of their Master's thesis research proposal to their supervisors and colleagues. On average 40% of the supervisor feedback information was missed by students. Retention time, measured as the time between presentation and arrival of the student mail recording the remembered feedback, and the amount of supervisor feedback were positively related to loss of information. A significant interaction between the amount of supervisor feedback and retention time indicated that loss of information was immediate when supervisor feedback was extensive, while information loss was comparably low and increased moderately with retention time when supervisor feedback was brief. In stressful oral presentations recording of supervisor feedback is highly recommended.