A mixed methods approach to the assessor's targeting behavior during online peer assessment: effects of anonymity and underlying reasons

Abstract

This study examined the effects of identity revelation and concealment on the number of times students' work was assessed in an online peer assessment context. It also examined the underlying reasons guiding the assessor's targeting behavior. Two fifth-grade classes participated. The one-group pretest–posttest experimental research design coupled with qualitative research method was adopted. The results from social network analysis (SNA) showed a high redundancy rate for both high- and low-targeted assessees in identity-revealed and identity-concealed conditions for both classes. Moreover, the density metrics indicated that all sociograms were similarly sparse. The Wilcoxon tests further confirmed that there were no significant differences in the assessees' ranking in the two conditions for both classes. Finally, analysis of students' self-reflective data revealed that the features/content of the work to be assessed, rather than who the question-author was, was the determining factor when it came to deciding the target for online peer assessment.