Factors associated with Chinese undergraduates’ perceptions of the ethical issues in classroom assessment practices—a mixed methods study

Although studies have been conducted on educators’ perceptions of assessment practices, few studies explored students’ perceptions of the ethical issues in classroom assessment. A mixed design research method was used to examine factors associated with students’ perceptions of the ethicality of classroom assessment practices. A sample of 1996 undergraduate students enrolled in 177 colleges and universities in China participated in the quantitative phase of the study to complete a survey measuring students’ perceptions regarding the ethicality of classroom assessment. In the qualitative phase, 579 participants responded to the open-ended questions concerning their justification of the ethicality of the individual assessment situations. Quantitative analyses indicated that students’ gender, grade level, major, and program were associated with their perceptions of the ethicality of multiple assessment practices (i.e., multiple assessment, surprise items, considering effort and attendance in grading, and giving feedback). Qualitative analyses showed that conflicting needs of different stakeholders in classroom assessment (i.e., student needs vs. assessment needs, teacher needs vs. assessment needs, student needs vs. student needs) were associated with their perceptions. Findings of the current study offer insights for teachers regarding how to make classroom assessment practices ethical based on diverse needs of stakeholders involved in assessment.