Why Peer Review? Rationale #4

Some advantages of peer review Feedback is more extensive quicker scalable Can’t blame the reader! Forces students to think metacognitively

Five types of feedback Describe what you see in the work, e.g., by summarizing. Clarify what is being said, e.g., ask questions. Alter or point out corrections to be made Suggest improvements Evaluate how well it meets its objectives DESCRIBING helps quality control, easy to spot a reviewer who missed the main points. CLARIFY can be done in F2F review, or in “back reviews”/”rejoinders” in an online system ALTER: Don’t do this first in a review! SUGGEST is often the most helpful EVALUATE is often the least useful, if not well explained

Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback Helpful feedback is Constructive Specific Balanced Succinct Respectful vs. Unhelpful feedback is: Too positive or too negative General & unspecific Rambling Aggressive – makes author feel “attacked” Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback “Helpful vs. unhelpful” slides taken from Pearce & Mulder, “Student peer review: an introductory tutorial.”

Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback 1. What are the main strengths of this report? Unhelpful comment: “Your report was really good! I enjoyed reading it.” Author’s response: “I’m flattered you liked my report, but I don’t have a sense of what you thought was good about it.” Helpful comment: “This report was succinct and well written. The aims of the report were clear and I found it easy to identify your take- home messages...” Examples of helpful vs. unhelpful feedback

Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback 2. Where are the main areas for improvement? Unhelpful comment: “Your report was poorly written and hard to read!” Author’s response: “This comment doesn’t really help me to improve anything!” Helpful comment: “There are a few areas that might make this report stronger. Expanding the Introduction to include more background information would help set the scene a little more (para 2). The arguments could also be strengthened by adding additional references, for examples lines 3, 16 and 55...” Examples of helpful vs. unhelpful feedback

Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback 3a. Is the balance between the sections about right? Unhelpful comment: “No – there wasn’t enough space left for covering the background of the study.” Helpful comment: “The balance feels very good; however you may consider expanding the background section with greater information on theoretical concepts being tested” Author’s response: “Although stating good and bad points, none of it was portrayed negatively. The comments were given helpfully, with clear points for me to follow.” Examples of helpful vs. unhelpful feedback

Helpful vs. unhelpful feedback 3b. Is the balance between the sections about right? Unhelpful comment: “The overall balance was good, with no section outweighing any other at all.” Author’s response: “Very positive review, but not much given that I can improve on - I highly doubt it was almost perfect.” Helpful comment: “Not the best balance: The introduction and rationale sections were too lengthy. While very clear, they could be trimmed down quite a bit and made to be much more concise. For example, I think lines 108 to 113 are unnecessary...” Examples of helpful vs. unhelpful feedback

Suppose you like it … Suppose you don’t see anything wrong with the work; what should you say? Why not just pass? Because the author won’t know why it’s good, and how to replicate the success. Because you don’t learn from it. Because it’s too easy!

Example review 1 Specific? “I like the writing style, and I think the article is relatively easy to follow and the paragraphs are well linked. The article might be stronger if some of the sentences were more simple and succinct such as line 1 and 7 in paragraph 1, and line 3 in paragraph 4.” Constructive? Balanced? This is an example paragraph from a review. This can be used for discussion with students about the characteristics of a helpful review. Clear? “Helpful vs. unhelpful” slides taken from Pearce & Mulder, “Student peer review: an introductory tutorial.”

Example review 2 Specific? “This paper has poor structure and flow. There are several grammatical and spelling errors and some of the paragraphs should be shortened. I got confused about what you were trying to say at some points.” Constructive? Balanced? This is an example paragraph from a review. This can be used for discussion with students about the characteristics of a helpful review. Clear? “Helpful vs. unhelpful” slides taken from Pearce & Mulder, “Student peer review: an introductory tutorial.”

Example review 3 “Some sentences lacked commas where there should have been one, or were too long at times (e.g. line 34 and line 41). Otherwise, the article as a whole had a smooth flow and the intent behind each paragraph clear and understandable.” Specific? Constructive? Balanced? This is an example paragraph from a review. This can be used for discussion with students about the characteristics of a helpful review. Clear? “Helpful vs. unhelpful” slides taken from Pearce & Mulder, “Student peer review: an introductory tutorial.”

Read a work twice before reviewing Once for the big picture Once for details Take notes! Take notes, because the points won’t come to you in the order that you should write them in your review, and you don’t want to have to reread it a 3rd time.

How to say it Psychology is as important as assessment Proceed from general to specific Suggestions should be realistic in scope Review the content, not the author Avoid “always,” “never,” etc. Start and end with positive

How to “receive” a review Realize that reviews will vary in quality. Make an effort to digest comments. Even if they seem “off the wall,” they could still be how your readers see the work. Be grateful for others’ help. Ask for clarifications.

Receiving feedback: tips Don’t panic! Read all the comments & make notes Take time to reflect Address major issues Tackle smaller points Proofread final document Summary of tips for receiving reviews This slide taken from Pearce & Mulder, “Student peer review: an introductory tutorial.”

Learn from doing peer reviews Lundstrom & Baker 2009 Class divided into 2 groups Group A provided feedback to Group B Students in Group A improved more than students in Group B. Shah-Nelson 2014 Survey answered by 1040 students in MOOCs Educational value of “grading others’ papers” was 3.17 on a scale of 1 to 4 “feedback from other students” was only 2.92 on scale.