How does peer feedback impact academic performance? An empirical investigation in an undergraduate business context

This study explores the peer feedback process with first-year undergraduate business students at an Irish University. This research explicitly examines (1) whether the act of generating or receiving high-quality peer feedback had a significant impact on student performance (grades) and (2) participants' attitudes to peer feedback (pre and post-process). A mixed methods approach was adopted where the data gathered included draft and final assignment grades, content analysis and quality ratings of peer feedback and responses to student attitude and perception questionnaires. Results demonstrate that the quality of peer feedback generated has a statistically significant impact on students' final grades. While the feedback received is often seen as the main benefit derived from the peer feedback process, this study provides empirical evidence that students who generated high quality feedback, were able to self-evaluate and enhance their own work which resulted in improved performance. Together with positive attitudes, this finding suggests that there is more scope to support and encourage students' role as assessor in higher education. A limitation of the study is that it did not control for intrinsic motivation or innate academic ability.