What factor moderates the effect of handwriting quality on essay test scoring

Investigation by meta-analysis and experiment

Abstract

No consistent results have been shown about whether the handwriting quality affects essay test scoring. We hypothesized that the following factors may moderate the effect of handwriting quality: (1)degree of freedom for answer, (2)ages of examinees, (3)skills of scorers.

Then, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of these factors. The result suggested that the younger the examinee, the larger the effect of handwriting quality. Based on this result, we hypothesized that the factor of ages virtually means the factor of quality of essay, and that the quality of essay mediates the moderator effect of age. To test the hypothesis, we let 20 participants score essay tests with different levels of essay quality and handwriting quality. The result of a two-way ANOVA showed no interaction effect, which indicated that essay quality may not mediate the effect of handwriting quality.