Stability of Rater Leniency: Three Studies

Abstract

Research has identified rating leniency as one of the most troublesome of rating errors. Little is known about the extent to which the error is a stable rater tendency, although Guilford hypothesized such stability in 1954. We investigated the stability of rater leniency in three actual appraisal situations. Leniency was found to be a relatively stable response tendency across the three studies. The findings suggest that leniency might be predicted using measures of individual differences.