Project SLICE-UP
The Thin Slices Technique: Application to Teaching and Analysis of Judgement Processes
The SLICE-UP project is concerned with the ability to measure aspects of teaching quality using first impressions of untrained observers (so-called thin-slices ratings). Central aspects of teaching quality in classroom research are seen as the quality of learning-related interactions between teachers and students, such as the success of structured classroom management, constructive support from teachers, and lesson design that cognitively activates students.
The SLICE-UP project focuses on the first impression of teaching quality. The so-called ‘thin slice’ technique, in which people are assessed for long-term behavioural tendencies and personality traits on the basis of short video sequences (five seconds to five minutes), has already been used in various (application) areas of psychological research. Many studies have demonstrated the high predictive validity of first impressions for psychological constructs such as personality traits or clinical disorders.
In the field of classroom research, the use of thin-slices technique potentially represents an economical alternative to the costly and time-consuming methods of classroom observation, which have been considered the ‘ideal’ way to capture the quality of teaching. The SLICE-UP project continues research from a first phase of the project (2015-2018), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which has already provided empirical evidence that thin-slice ratings can reliably and validly capture aspects of teaching quality.
SLICE-UP is a joint project of the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (Prof. Dr. Mareike Kunter) and the German Youth Institute (Prof. Dr. Susanne Kuger). By re-analysing existing video studies of teaching (TALIS, PERLE, Phi-Actio), the results of the first phase of the project will be tested for replicability over the next three years and further evidence for the validity of thin-slice ratings of teaching quality will be gathered. Secondly, the cognitive processes on which the thin-slice ratings are based will be analysed in a number of studies. Finally, the state of research on the predictive validity of thin-slice ratings from different psychological domains will be summarised in a broad meta-analysis.
Project aims:
- To explore in depth the thin-slices technique as a possible approach to video-based assessment of teaching quality.
- To investigate the cognitive processes underlying thin-slice ratings of teaching quality.
- To examine the state of research on the predictive validity of thin-slices ratings across different research domains.