Triangulation in Classroom Research: A Study of Peer Revision

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of training for peer revision in college freshman English composition classes. Four instructors and 169 students participated. Each instructor taught one class in the experimental condition, which included training for peer revision via instructor conferences, and one class in the control condition, which employed peer revision without such training. We assessed the effects of training in terms of (a) students' ability to critique peer writing; (b) quality of student writing; and (c) students' attitudes toward peer revision and writing in general. We used different measures, data sources, and methods. The combination of measures, data sources, and methods not only allowed triangulation of the finding that training for peer revision improved students' ability to critique peer writing and their attitudes toward peer revision but also illuminated other aspects of peer revision processes.