Accountability in peer assessment: examining the effects of reviewing grades on peer ratings and peer feedback

We examined the influence of accountability on the consistency of peer ratings and quality of peer feedback by comparing three conditions: only rating accountability, only feedback accountability, or both rating and feedback accountability. From a large undergraduate course, 287 students' peer ratings and peer feedback were coded for rating consistency, comment helpfulness, amount of feedback, and feedback features. Because only 30% of the students accurately perceived their assigned condition, data were analyzed according to the perceived condition. Students who believed their reviewing grade would be influenced by the helpfulness of their feedback not only provided more feedback, but also more criticism, solutions, and localized comments. These students also provided more consistent ratings than those who thought their reviewing grade would be influenced by the consistency of their ratings. These findings indicate that constructing helpful comments could have a broad influence on peer assessment and consistent ratings are grounded in commenting.