Article
Mitigating the Halo Effect: Managing the Wow Factor in Music Performance Assessments
Journal of Research in Music Performance
(2016)
Abstract
This article describes a project undertaken to assist assessors with recognizing and ameliorating the influence of the halo effect when multiple criteria are applied in a rubric to score music performance assessments. The halo effect occurs when impressions of the quality of a performance either overall, or against one or a subset of the criteria, unduly influence the scores assigned to subsequent criteria. The assessment context described in this article is set within the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), and assessment contexts, including the halo effect. These sources of information were distilled in an effort to provide enhanced training and scoring guidance and materials to support assessment validity and reliability. specifically the VCE Music Investigation study. This VCE study provides a flexible pathway for students to perform, compose and research diverse traditional, contemporary, classical and popular music styles using instruments ranging from voice, tabla, recorder and ud to orchestral and wind--‐band instruments, instruments typically found in rock bands and digital instruments in solo and ensemble performances. This diversity must be addressed in practice through valid assessment tasks and the reliable application of assessment criteria. These tasks and criteria must be coupled with appropriate assessor training, guidance and documentation. To support this requirement, experienced assessors reviewed recorded student performances whilst annotating the performance features they referenced when allocating scores against each of ten rubric criteria. Also recorded were the phrases that assessors used to describe well--‐documented sources of cognitive bias in performance assessment contexts, including the halo effect. These sources of information were distilled in an effort to provide enhanced training and scoring guidance and materials to support assessment validity and reliability.
Keywords
- Halo effect,
- Rater,
- Effects,
- Performance assessment,
- Rater reliability,
- Rater cognition,
- Rater training
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring May 5, 2016
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.21061/jrmp.v0i0.738
Citation Information
Nathan Zoanetti and Helen Champion. "Mitigating the Halo Effect: Managing the Wow Factor in Music Performance Assessments" Journal of Research in Music Performance (2016) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nathan-zoanetti/9/