DESCRIPTION VS EXPLANATION AND ACADEMIC EVALUATION

160 secondary school teachers were asked to do attributions for studen ts they knew. The 2x2x2 design incorporated three independent variable s: success vs failure, average vs extreme, and explanation vs descript ion. In addition, teachers were asked to express their interest in the student and to indicate their willingness to be interviewed. The main hypothesis was that the effect of categories (success vs failure and of average vs extreme) on the attributions would be stronger in the ca se of explanation than in the case of description. The findings suppor t predictions. The findings support these assumptions: the effect of s uccess vs failure on the number of attributions and willingness to be interviewed, and the effect of average vs extreme on interest are stro nger in the explanation condition than in the descriptive condition.