Comparing The Reliability Of Two Peer Evaluation Instruments
Matthew Ohland, Richard A. Layton
Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of student peer evaluations in project teams to compare the reliability of two different evaluation procedures. The project teams consist of junior-level students in a mechanical engineering design course taught by Layton for five semesters in 1997, 1998, and 1999. The peer-evaluation instruments were used by students to evaluate their teammates' contributions to the team's deliverables-oral and written presentations of their solution to a technical design problem. The first instrument is an adaptation of the one advocated by Brown, in which students use a prescribed list of terms such as "excellent," "very good," "satisfactory," and so forth. The second form, by Layton, asked students to assign a numerical rating (from 0 to 5) to 10 different aspects of contribution to the team.