How Machs Behave: Self and Peer Ratings

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2009

Department

School of Business

Abstract

Faculty members are increasingly asked (and want) to challenge students to think critically about a variety of issues, including their own thinking/performance and the thinking/performance of others. Faculty members try to prepare students for the “real” world. At the same time, class size is increasing at many universities. Though not a substitute for instructor evaluations, self and peer evaluations do offer a mechanism for providing feedback regarding performance. Self and peer appraisals force students to examine critically their own thinking/performance and the thinking/performance of others. In their future work lives, students will almost certainly face the issue of evaluation, either as the rater and/or as the ratee. It is in this context that the current study investigates the use of peer appraisals in the classroom. This study builds on previous research that found students could provide accurate ratings. Given accurate student ratings, we consider if student ratings can be affected by whether or not they expect to interact with and discuss their ratings with ratees. The ability of specific personality attributes, such as Machiavellianism, to moderate this relationship is also considered. Specifically addressed is the impact of the interaction between rater anonymity and power on leniency in subjective evaluation of a qualitative assignment. Preliminary results indicate that there are some differences requiring further exploration. Faculty members are increasingly asked (and want) to challenge students to think critically about a variety of issues, including their own thinking/performance and the thinking/performance of others. Faculty members, especially business programs, try to prepare students for the “real” world. At the same time, class size is increasing at many universities. Though not a substitute for evaluations by the instructor, self and peer evaluations do offer a mechanism for providing evaluative information regarding performance. Self and peer appraisals also force students to examine critically their own thinking/performance and the thinking/performance of others. In their future work lives, students will almost certainly face the issue of evaluation, either as the rater and/or as the ratee. It is in this context that the current study investigates the use of peer appraisals in the classroom. In previous research, students seem to be able to give ratings that mirror those given by faculty (Cochran, Roach, and Mason, 2004). Hence, though an individual student’s ratings may be suspect, the average of several students’ ratings provides a reasonably accurate measure of peer performance (Cochran et al., 2004). This study builds on this finding and explores the impact of individual differences on student ratings. What impact does rater anonymity carry?

Volume

15

Issue

1

ISSN

15407780

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