Two Case Studies of Ipsative Assessment in Academic Settings

Abstract

Writing a book about a new and largely untested approach to assessment presents us with a paradox. How can we be sure that a new way of thinking will be effective in practice if there is little practical application to draw upon? But, if there were to be abundant evidence of practice, then this would hardly be a new approach. This chapter does not aim to wriggle out of the paradox but seeks to provide some preliminary evidence to substantiate some of the theoretical claims I made about ipsative assessment in earlier chapters.