Assessment and its outcomes: the influence of disciplines and institutions

Simpson, Adrian

Abstract

Existing research provides evidence at the module level of systematic differences in patterns of assessment, marks achieved and distributions of marks between different disciplines. This paper examines those issues at the degree course level, and suggests reasons for the presence or absence of those module-level relationships at this higher level. The analysis finds that both discipline and institution have large and roughly equal impact on the balance between assessment types. However, contrary to the suggestions in the literature, that balance has virtually no independent impact on degree outcomes. The analysis also discovers that, while there is only a small independent impact of disciplines on average degree marks compared to the institutional impact, disciplines do have a larger relative impact on the distribution of those marks.

Citation

Simpson, A. (2016). Assessment and its outcomes: the influence of disciplines and institutions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(6), 917-937. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1052369

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 12, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jun 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: May 22, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 11, 2016
• Journal: Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
• Print ISSN: 0260-2938
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-297X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 917-937
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1052369
• Keywords: Assessment, Disciplines, Examination performance, Quantitative research, Degree performance.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1428089