Reliability of Self and Peer Assessment of Group Work in Higher Education

Abstract

Self and Peer Assessment (SPA) is commonly used by higher educational institutions to differentiate marks in group work based assessments. The paper demonstrates that the structure of SPA resembles that of a strategic form game, and the truthful reporting of self and peer contributions is not a dominant strategy in SPA. However, the paper through analyzing data of a case study, shows that, students may not report valuations as per the dominant strategies of the game. The result indicates the possibility of other factors such as reciprocity, altruism, guilt aversion and trust influencing SPA of the students. As these factors are not controlled by the designer (the assessor) of SPA, the statistics of SPA can not be treated as reliable indicators of the contribution of students being assessed.