Fairness perceptions in educational assessment: the role of positive and negative affect

ABSTRACT

The current study examines the perceived fairness of an educational assessment process, considering the influence of positive and negative affect. The first objective was to determine if a person’s evaluation of fairness fluctuates depending on the incidental affect (pre-evaluation affect). The second objective was studying the connection between emotional reactions (post-evaluation affect) and the perceived fairness of the assesment. Finally, we verify if the change in affect between pre-evaluation and post-evaluation is mediated by perceived fairness. A total of 607 students reported their evaluation of perceived fairness as well as their measured affect after and before the same exam. Results suggests the need to control for the impact of negative affect when investigating variations in the perception of fairness, as well as the need to take preventive actions to promote a positive affective state before exams.

KEYWORDS:

• Fairness perception
• positive and negative affect
• academic evaluation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andreea Butucescu

Andreea Butucescu has a PhD in organizational and educational assessment, and is currently enrolled in post doctoral research. She is a University Assistant at the University of Bucharest, and has a strong background in assessment, with more than 12 years of experience as a consultant in educational and organisational projects. Andreea has won multiple awards and scholarships for scientific performance, and is currently a member of the executive board of several professional associations and scientific journals. Her research interests center around fairness perceptions in assessment processes, good assessment practices and organisational health. Andreea is currently Editor in Chief of the Studia Doctoralia Journal, and in the editorial committee of the Human Resources Psychology Journal. She serves as a reviewer for journals such as International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Social Justice Research Journal, Journal of Psyhoeducational Assessment, Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An interdisciplinary journal.

Dragoș Iliescu

Dragoș Iliescu is a Professor of Psychology with the University of Bucharest. He has been active as a consultant for the past 20 years, being involved in and having led important projects related to tests, testing and assessment (among them more than 100 test adaptation projects), mainly in South-Eastern Europe, but also in South-East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Dragoș Iliescu has served in various capacities for a number of national and international professional associations; among others, he is the immediate Past-President (2016-2018) of the International Test Commission (ITC) and the Treasurer of the European Association for Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP). He is an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Psychological Assessment, and the author of over 100 scientific papers, book chapters and books, among them the co-Editor of the acclaimed ITC International Handbook of Testing and Assessment, published in 2016 by Oxford University Press, and the author of an important monography (Adapting tests in linguistic and cultural situations) published with Cambridge University Press. His research interests group around two domains: (1) psychometrics: psychological and educational assessment, tests and testing (with an important cross-cultural component), and (2) work, industrial and organizational psychology (with an important focus on occupational health and wellbeing).