“Results indicated that student performance in a postgraduate psychology course was graded at a lower level under pass-fail marking, compared with a grade-based marking system. Students’ course marks were lower overall and were also significantly lower, based on the pass-fail scheme for one particular assignment that focused on students’ administration, scoring and reporting of a test of intellectual ability.” (p.59) “Although a reduction in performance was evident, students continued to demonstrate excellent achievement of the course learning objectives with the change to pass-fail assessment.” (p.57)
Roberts, R. M., Dorstyn, D. S., Roberts, M. C. (2017). Does changing grade-based marking to pass-fail marking change student achievement in a postgraduate psychology course? Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 11(1), 57–60. doi: 10.1037/tep0000129