A student’s lack of motivation to give their best on a post-test is one of the largest threats to the validity of the data gathered.  If posttests cannot be gathered from all students, a robust representative sample can be used.  However voluntary testing and convenience sampling are strongly discouraged.  Motivating students to give their best effort can be accomplished by offering incentives such as extra points toward course grades, permission to include one’s scores in one’s employment portfolio, bookstore discount coupons, and the like.  Contact Insight Assessment educational testing specialists to discuss ideas about how to motivate your students to provide their best effort on the critical thinking post-test. 

For further discussion about motivating test takers for a critical thinking assessment