1. Tracking a Dose-Response Curve
for Peer Feedback on Writing:
A Pilot Study
PI: Christina Hendricks
Co-PI: Jeremy Biesanz
University of British Columbia-Vancouver
Funded by the UBC Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning SoTL Seed Fund
ISSOTL, October 2016
Slides licensed CC-BY 4.0

2. Literature on peer feedback
Receiving peer
feedback improves
writing
(Paulus, 1999; Cho & Schunn,
2007; Cho & MacArthur, 2010;
Crossman & Kite, 2012)
Giving peer feedback
improves writing
(Cho & Cho, 2011; Li, Liu &
Steckelberg, 2010)

3. GAPS:
Most studies look at revisions to a single
essay, not changes across different essays
Draft 1 Draft 2 Draft 3
Essay 1 Essay 2 Essay 3 Essay 4 Essay …n
PFB
PF
B
PF
B
PFB PF
B
PFB
Few studies look at “dose-response curve”

4. Pilot study research questions
1. How do students use peer comments given and
received for improving different essays rather
than drafts of the same essay?
1. Are students more likely to use peer comments
given and received for improving their writing
after more than one or two peer feedback
sessions? How many sessions are optimal?
2. Does the quality of peer comments improve
over time?

5. • Interdisciplinary, full year course for first-years
• 18 credits (English, History, Philosophy)
• Students write 10-12 essays (1500-2000
words)
• Peer feedback tutorials every week (4
students)
http://artsone.arts.ubc.ca
Toni Morrison, Wikimedia Commons,
licensed CC BY-SA 2.0
Osamu Tezuka, public domain
on Wikimedia Commons
Jane Austen, public domain on
Wikimedia Commons
Friedrich Nietzsche, public
domain, Wikimedia Commons

6. Data for pilot study 2013-2014
• 10 essays by 12
participants (n=120)
• Comments by 3 peers on
essays (n=1218)
• Comments by instructor
(n=3291)
• All coded with same
rubric

7. Coding Rubric
Categories
(plus
subcategories, for
11 options)
• Strength of argument
• Organization
• Insight
• Style & Mechanics
Numerical
value
1: Significant problem
2: Moderate problem
3: Positive comment/praise
E.g., STREV 2: could use more textual
evidence to support your claims
Change
for future

8. Inter-coder reliability
Fleiss’ Kappa Intra-class
correlation
Student
comments
(n=141)
All categories: 0.61 (moderate)
Most used categories: 0.8
(excellent)
0.96
(excellent)
Essays (n=120) 0.71
(adequate)
3 coders:
• Daniel Munro & Kosta Prodanovic
(undergrads, former Arts One)
• Jessica Stewart (author, editor)

9. LOOKING AT TRENDS IN
COMMENTS OVER TIME

10. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
024681012
Essay Number
InstructorNumberofComments
Argument Strength
Style
Insight
Organization
INSTRUCTOR
Comments
-
.28**Strength
Style
Organiz.
Insight
-.04*
Number of 2 comments over time

11. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
01234
Essay Number
StudentNumberofComments
Argument Strength
Style
Insight
Organization
STUDENT
comments
Strength
Style
Organiz.
Insight
-.16**
Number of 2 comments over time

12. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
012345
Essay Number
InstructorNumberofComments
Argument Strength
Style
Insight
Organization
INSTRUCTOR
Comments .31***
Strength
Style
Organiz.
Insight
.08**
.19**
.11**
Number of 3 comments

13. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0.00.51.01.52.02.53.0
Essay Number
StudentNumberofComments
Argument Strength
Style
Insight
Organization
STUDENT
Comments
Strength
Style
Organiz.
Insight
Number of 3 comments over time

14. HOW DOES ESSAY QUALITY
CHANGE OVER TIME?

15. Essay
quality
improves
linearly
b = .038
t(107) = 2.1
p = .037
Essays rated
on a 7-point
scale

16. MORE COMPLEX
ANALYSES

17. Cross-lagged panel design with
auto-regressive structure
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
B
A
C
D
E
… N
… N
Looking at time 1 to time 2, then time 2 to time 3…
one single time lag.

18. Path A: Student comments
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
A
C
D
… N
… N
Significant relationships
• Ratings of 2 in Insight (-.53*)
• Ratings of 3 in Organization (.13*)
*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

19. Path A: Instructor Comments
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
B
A
C
D
E
… N
… N
Significant relationships
• Ratings of 1 in Strength (-.12*) & Org. (-.23**)
• Ratings of 2 in Strength (-.06*) & Style (-.08*)
• Ratings of 3 in Str, (.11*), Insight (.35*), Style (.15*)
*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

20. Path C: student comments
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
A
C
D
… N
… N
Significant relationships
• Comments rated 2 in Strength (.22*) & Style (.33**)
• Comments rated 3 in Style (.31*)
*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

21. Path C: instructor comments
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
B
A
C
D
E
… N
… N
Significant effects:
• Rating of 3 in Strength (.34**) and Style (.30**)
*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

22. Path D: Student & Instructor
comments
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
A
C
D
… N
… N
Significant relationship ONLY if combine student
& instructor comments, & only for comments
rated 1 (all categories combined): (.05, p=.06)

23. Path D: Two time lags
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
A
C
Essay Q
Time 3
… N
D
No significant relationships in comments time 1
plus time 2 for essay time 3, for any comments or
categories

24. Research question 1
How do students use peer comments given
and received for improving different
essays rather than drafts of same essay?
o Very little significant evidence of
relationships in Path D
o No difference between comments given
& received

25. Research question 2
Are students more likely to use peer comments
given and received for improving their writing
after more than one or two peer feedback
sessions? How many sessions are optimal?
o No evidence that there is any change over
time in path D
o No difference between comments given or
received

26. Research question 3
Does the quality of peer comments improve
over time?
o No evidence of change over time in path A
Essay Quality
Time 1
Essay Quality
Time 2
Comments
Time 1
Comments
Time 2
B
A
C
D
E
… N
… N

27. Some conclusions
Pilot study: feasible for larger sample? Yes, if:
o instructors code essay quality rather than coders
o have easy collection of comments

28. References
• Cho, K., & MacArthur, C. (2010). Student revision with peer
and expert reviewing, Learning and Instruction. 20, 328-338.
• Cho, Y. H., & Cho, K. (2011). Peer reviewers learn from giving
comments. Instructional Science, 39, 629-643.
• Cho, K. & Schunn, C. D. (2007). Scaffolded writing and
rewriting in the discipline: A web-based reciprocal peer review
system. Computers & Education, 48, 409–426
• Crossman, J. M., & Kite, S. L. (2012). Facilitating improved
writing among students through directed peer review, Active
Learning in Higher Education, 13, 219-229.
• Li, L., Liu, X., & Steckelberg, A. L. (2010). Assessor or
assessee: How student learning improves by giving and
receiving peer feedback. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 41(3), 525–536.
• Paulus, T. M. (1999). The effect of peer and teacher feedback
on student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8,
265-289.

29. Thank you!
Christina Hendricks
University of British Columbia-Vancouver
Website: http://blogs.ubc.ca/christinahendricks
Blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/chendricks
Twitter: @clhendricksbc
Slides licensed CC-BY 4.0