On the Assessment of Written Exams and Possible Bias due to Dynamic Rater Effects Emerging from Student Initials and Rater Fatigue

Abstract

In this paper the possibility of an existing bias, due to the order (here by the initial letters of the family names) in which the results of the students are judged, was studied. This would constitute of a dynamic rater effect of harshness, or leniency, towards the performance of these students due to rater fatigue. A substantial dataset, consisting of 12 years of written exams, for a course, for 2512 examinees, was mined and the results analyzed. The evidence points to the fact that the assessment procedure do not favor, or disfavor, the students with family names whose initial letters are placed late in the alphabet.