The Problem of Peer Assessment

Some group work contexts recommend groups members giving a mark to the other members for their contribution and and group work skills.  While some studies suggest that peer assessment accuracy correlates well to other assessment, there are problems with this approach. Such as: 

• Personal relationships might interfere with accuracy, i.e. being mean, or too kind

• Evidence of  judgement is lacking for moderation and quality assurance processes

• Cursory judgements may be made

As we require good evidence of judgement for scores and grades for student learning and also for moderation purposes, peer assessment is not a useful way to assess in summative situations. There won't be clear evidence of the judgement for moderation. You might consider it in formative situations, as feedback when students are learning group work skills.