Affective Assessment Methods

Affective Assessment Methods
For appropriate guidance and in-depth knowledge development of assessment on the

affective domain, there are three (3) viable methods you can utilize, namely: teacher
observation, student self-reports, and peer ratings. Since assessing the affective learning
targets are intangible traits of learners, these are gathered or attributed from their behaviors,
attitudes, values, and even to learner’s perspectives about themselves, others, and their
community.
According to Wel (2019), there are three considerations in assessing affect which are:
1. Emotions and feelings change quickly most especially for young children and during
early adolescence. This means that assessing the affective part of our students’ learning
development will take over a longer time. One-time observation of affect does not reveal
the authentic behavior of our students.
2. Use varied approaches in measuring the same affective traits as possible. In assessing
emotions and feelings, it will always be reliable and valid to use of different methods or a
combination for further tests and confirmation from peers and teacher’s observations.
3. Decide the type of data or results needed. Is it individual or group data? It is
necessary to contemplate the essence or purpose of the data, the type of data required in
the affective assessment, and for whom and what the results will be. You may ask these
questions: Is it for parents’ feedback? Is it to improve instruction? Is it to understand the
students? Is it to strengthen the relationship among peers?
Consideration of the purpose of assessment influences the method that must be used in
the processes. Individual student information is necessary to report or give feedback to
parents or interested individuals about the learner. Thus, multiple methods of collecting
data in a while and keeping records to verify judgments made are appropriate. If the
assessments are to improve instruction, then results for the group or the whole class are
more proper to use. This is one of the usefulness of affective assessments. It is more
reliable to use anonymous student self-reports.
Method 1: Teacher Observation
Teacher observation is an action or a process of careful watching and observing
something or someone to gain information (Merriam-Webster). In affective assessment,
the teacher used this method to record and determine specific behaviors of students as an
indicator of the targeted affective traits vividly manifested during learning processes. The
behavioral observations of teachers may be classified into two (2): positive behaviors and
negative behaviors. Table 1 below shows the list of some examples of these behaviors.
Table 1. Student Behaviors Indicating Positive and Negative Attitudes Toward Learning
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Rarely misses class Is frequently absent

Comes to class on time Is frequently tardy
Asks lots of questions Rarely asks questions
Helps other students Rarely helps other students
Works well independently without Needs constant supervision
supervision Is not involved in extracurricular
Is involved in extracurricular activities activities
He or she likes school Says he or she doesn’t like school
Comes to class early Rarely comes to class early
Stays after school Rarely stays after school
Volunteers to help Doesn’t volunteer
Completes homework Often does not complete homework
Tries hard to do well Doesn’t care about bad grades
Completes assignments before they are Never does extra credit work
due Never completes assignments before
Rarely complains the due date
Is rarely off-task Complains
Rarely bothers students Sleeps in class
The behaviors in the positive column are called approach behaviors while the negative ones
are known as avoidance behaviors. Approach behaviors result in less direct, less frequent, and
less intense contact. These dimensions are more concise and concrete in describing the
positive and negative behaviors of students. Aside from listing, you may also brainstorm with
other subject teachers to determine the consistency, intensity, and frequency of both the
positive and negative behaviors.
After listing and brainstorming, the teacher-observer needs to decide whether to use an
informal, unstructured observation or a formal one and structured observation. These types
differ in terms of preparation and what are recorded.
1.1. Unstructured Observation
Unstructured observation is also called anecdotal, which can be used to make summative
judgments on the behaviors that indicate the affective traits of students. This type of
observation is typically open-ended, and there is no checklist or rating scale used.
Unstructured observation is just simply recording all observed affective traits present. It has to
be more realistic, which means teachers have to record everything they have observed and are
not limited by what is contained in a checklist or rating scale. Also, take note to avoid
personal judgments, conclusions, and or inference in the recording.
1.2 Structured Observation
Structured observation is different from unstructured observation due to the extent of

preparation needed and in the manner of recording the observed behaviors. In structured
observation, more time is needed since checklist or rating forms are to be generated from the
lists of observed positive and negative behaviors to be used in recording observations and in
making checklists or rating scales for an easy and convenient way of completing the
structured observation.
The following are to be considered if teacher observation method will be used in more formal
recording purposes of affective traits by McMillan (2007):
1. Determine behaviors to be observed in advance;

2. Record student’s essential data such as time, data, and place;
3. Record brief descriptions of relevant behavior of the affective targets to avoid confusion;
4. Keep interpretations separate from description;
5. Record both positive and negative behaviors;
6. Have as many observations of each student as necessary;
7. Avoid personal bias;
8. Record the observations immediately;
9. Apply an efficient and straightforward procedure.
In structured observation, a checklist may be in frequency format (yes or no, observed or not
observed or by the number of times the behaviors occur). Also, it can be in a rating approach
(always, sometimes, rarely, or never scales). Lastly, a group observation tool can be used to
facilitate your understanding of the students in collaborative works, skills, and dynamics. In
the next section (TAKE ACTION), you will complete these tools for better practice in
structured observation.
Method 2: Student Self- report

Student self-report can be done through a casual conversation or interview and written
questionnaire or survey forms. These methods are commonly used in assessing students’
affect to gain a deeper understanding of their personal self or other students.
2.1 Student’s Interview
Student interview has different types of personal communication with students to directly
elicit their true feelings and beliefs through individual or group interviews, discussions, or the
casual conversations of teachers to his or her students. In interviews, it is a must that students
establish trust with their teachers as interviewers to make the communication more
expressive, comfortable, warm, and caring to hear acceptable, desirable and honest responses
from the students.
2.2 Questionnaires and Surveys
Questionnaires are set of actual questions that students will have to answer individually and a
survey is a process of using these sets of questions (questionnaires) to be collected, analyzed,
and interpreted to determine insights, common characteristics, and affect about the students or
group of students. Using this method, the two (2) questionnaires and surveys are the
constructed-response and selected-response formats.
a. Constructed-Response Format
This format is more direct in asking students’ affect. Questions asked must lead to short and
straightforward sentences as a response. Commonly, incomplete sentences or statements are
used to express their attitudes, values, beliefs, and preferences freely. Essay formats can be
implemented to older students in higher grades for a more comprehensive, detailed and
authentic explanation of their attitudes, values, beliefs, behaviors and choices.
b. Selected-Response Format
Selected-response formats in assessing affective domain of learning are considered to be an
efficient way of collecting information. It assures anonymity in checking the responses.
The three (3) ways in adapting this format to assess affect are rating scale, Likert scale, and
checklist. These specific tools will be discussed in the next lesson thoroughly.
Method 3: Peer Ratings

Teachers rarely use peer ratings as a method in assessing the affective aspect of learners
because of the reasonably inefficient nature of conducting, scoring, and interpreting and due
to the nature of the learners who tend to become more subjective in rating their peers. This
method still requires the teachers to be more attuned in class and closely monitor what
students assessed in peer rating for further verification. The two (2) techniques to be used in
determining the affective qualities of your students to reinforce observation and self-reports
are the Guess-Who and the Socio-metric Techniques.
3.1 Guess-Who Technique
The Guess-who technique is used to obtain peer judgment or ratings requiring students to
name their classmates who portray the behavioral descriptors presented by the teacher. It
could be both positive and negative traits, but normally assessing affect has to be the positive
ones to reinforce desirable behaviors. In scoring, simply tally the frequency or the number of
times the students’ name in each descriptor given.
3.2 Socio-metric Technique
Socio-metric technique is used to assess the students’ social interactions, acceptance, and
liking patterns from each other or among other classmates. Usually, a student will nominate a
classmate that indicates their choice of companion. The number of options students receive
would mean their social acceptance. The result can be presented using a sociogram- a diagram
and a tool for charting the relationships within a group, a visual representation of students’
social links and preferences in same learning environment (Cooper, 2020).
In general, utilizing a method or combination of these methods in assessing the authentic
affects of our students must take the following consideration due to numerous factors
underlying each situation or scenario in the learning process. One, as a teacher, you should
determine the type of affect to be assessed first. Second, identify if the information or
responses needed from a grouped or individual assessment of behaviors. Third, note the very
purpose of information (is it for grading or support of the assessment result?). Lastly, ensure
anonymity and keep all information with utmost confidentiality to avoid fake responses.
Congratulations! You completed your in-depth understanding of our Take On activities.

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Affective Assessment Methods

For appropriate guidance and in-depth knowledge development of assessment on the

Rarely misses class Is frequently absent

1.1. Unstructured Observation

1.2 Structured Observation

Structured observation is different from unstructured observation due to the extent of

1. Determine behaviors to be observed in advance;

Method 2: Student Self- report

2.2 Questionnaires and Surveys

Method 3: Peer Ratings

Congratulations! You completed your in-depth understanding of our Take On activities.

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