Research – what we do
We strive to be the exam provider of choice by offering qualifications that have high educational value, are valid, reliable and fair and are affordable and manageable for schools and colleges. We also aim to set and maintain appropriate standards that carry credibility.
The Research department works to support these aims by:
- ensuring fair grades for candidates by maintaining standards
- underpinning innovation with good research
- ensuring that marking systems are reliable and robust
- contributing to national assessment research
What's new in Research?
Researching the use of new technologies in assessment
The impact of e-marking on enquiries after results
The purpose of this report was to investigate whether the introduction of e-marking enhanced quality of marking, by exploring how the number of re-mark requests and mark changes following a re-mark varied between 2005 and 2006 depending upon the method by which a paper was marked. Findings suggested that e-marking had impacted positively upon quality of marking. The components had significantly fewer mark changes following a re-mark in 2006 when they were marked by CMI+, than in 2005 when they were marked on paper, although notably the effect size was very small.
The impact of e-marking on enquiries after results 2006/2007
This analysis from the above paper was extended to incorporate the enquiries after results data from 2007, to investigate how the introduction of e-marking had impacted upon quality of marking for 12 components marked electronically for the first time in 2007, and in particular, for those components that contained the longest responses that are currently marked on screen (GCSE Religious Studies A).
Electronic marking – the pros and cons and the possibilities...
(Select this link and scroll down to Michelle Meadows and Chris Wheadon to view the presentation.)
This seminar presented research into the advantages and disadvantages of e-marking. These included: examiners' attitudes to e-marking; its reliability compared to traditional paper based marking; its impact on grade changes following requests for re-marks; issues relating to the e-marking of extended responses e.g. essays including software developments to support this; and the loss of context associated with item level marking. The wider impacts of e-marking were also considered such as: the possible threat to the community of assessment practice; avenues of recruitment of non-teachers to mark particular items; the use of item level feedback to schools; and possible innovations to the grade boundary setting process offered by e-marking.
The report 'Principles and Practice of On-Demand Testing', commissioned by Ofqual, was published on their website. Read the press release and download it here.
Dr Neil Stringer, Dr Suzanne Chamberlain, Dee Fowles, Lucy Billington and Rachel Taylor presented at the recent IAEA conference in Cambridge. Follow the links to the papers below:
- Dr Neil Stringer's paper 'An appropriate role for professional judgement in maintaining standards in English general qualifications'
- Dr Suzanne Chamberlain's paper on the validity of marking reliability studies
- Dee Fowles' paper 'Does marking images of essays on screen retain marker confidence and reliability?'
- Lucy Billington and Rachel Taylor's paper 'Public trust in high-stakes assessment and its measurement'
Dr Suzanne Chamberlain and Rachel Taylor gave a presentation on Online Standardisation at the CIEA conference in London –view the presentation slides.
Dr Michelle Meadows and Chris Wheadon presented a paper about electronic marking at the recent CIEA conference in London – view the presentation slides.
Dr Neil Stringer's work on aptitude tests featured in the Independent newspaper in February – read the article.
Dr Anthony Daly gave a presentation about grading the new Diplomas at the recent CIEA conference in London – view the presentation slides.
Dr Suzanne Chamberlain's paper on absenteeism in GCSE examinations has been published in Research in Education.
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