I wish I could believe you: the frustrating unreliability of some assessment research

Hunt, Tim and Jordan, Sally (2016) I wish I could believe you: the frustrating unreliability of some assessment research. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 10 (1). pp. 13-21.

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License CC BY-NC Download (396kB) | Preview

Abstract

Many practitioner researchers strive to understand which assessment practices have the best impact on learning, but in authentic educational settings, it can be difficult to determine whether one intervention, for example the introduction of an online quiz to a course studied by diverse students, is responsible for the observed effect. This paper uses examples to highlight some of the difficulties inherent in assessment research and suggests some ways to overcome them. Problems observed in the literature include: assuming that if two effects are correlated then one must have caused the other; confounding variables obscuring the true relationships; experimental approaches that are too far removed from reality; and the danger that self-reported behaviour and opinion is sometimes different from student’s actual behaviour. Practical solutions include: the use of an experimental or pseudo-experimental approach; the use of mixed methods; and the use of meta-analysis.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Practitioner Research in Higher Education
Publisher:	University of Cumbria
ISSN:	1755-1382
Departments:	Academic Departments > Institute of Education (IOE) > Non-Initial Teacher Education (Non-ITE)
Additional Information:	Tim Hunt and Sally Jordan are students at The Open University, UK.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	24 Oct 2016 18:46
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 16:16
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2477

Downloads