Telling the truth on a peer evaluation for a group project?

[JESSICAAA159]

I worked on a project with 5 other students. We further divided the group into pairs to spread the work evenly. Unfortunately, I got paired off with one of the laziest people I know.

We split the assignment right down the middle, and she didn't do her part.

When I asked her, she used school, clinicals, being sick as an excuse (HELLO?! We all have that and I was sick too) When I told her she can't keep doing, she got really mad and BSed a little paragraph of work (we needed to write 3 pages each). I ended up doing her part of the work (ALL OF IT), including references, intro, conclusion, definitions.

I honestly want to give her a 0-25% on our peer evaluation. However, our instructor alarmed us that if you're the only one who gave a bad evaluation about someone, she will have to speak to ALL of us. I don't want to be put on the spot even though she mentions it is supposed to be confidential. Btw, my instructor told us to sort any group work problems on our own (she didn't want to hear it & I have never worked with this girl before).

And I think it is kind of obvious because I was the only one who worked with her the most. The other pairs had no problems.

What do I do?

[enuf_already]

That depends. No one likes confrontation yet if you do nothing chances are your group member will continue to do nothing.

Do you have to work with this person again? Do you want to truthfully rate her for her contribution or hope that someone else who gets stuck with her later down the road speaks up?

I personally would tell her I was very disappointed that she left me with the choice to either do the work she was supposed to do or turn in an unfinished project. Then ask her what rating she would give herself on her contribution to the project.

[canigraduate]

Do what you're supposed to and be honest. It's not your fault your partner sucked. Do you want to be responsible for her sabotaging someone else when you could have been honest?

Don't be afraid of talking to the teacher. It is good practice for when you have to deal with Nurse Managers in the future. You are coming across as overly timid.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

Personally, I would speak to the rest of the group and let them know what happened and that you'd like to give her a 0-25% rating. That way you are all on the same page and everyone can give her the same rating. That way, your instructor doesn't have to get involved. This person should have done her work.

I absolutely HATE group projects! There's always someone who doesn't pull their weight.

[caliotter3]

Fascinating that in situations like this it is usually the case that the instructor tells the group that they do not want to hear about problems and they punish the people who do their share of the work. This behavior acculturates you to the workplace where the same type of behavior often takes place. Almost always, the slacker benefits from the efforts of the others in the group. I would be honest in your rating. You did her work for her, so you have already suffered for her laziness. At least own up to your effort.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Gaah! Just another reason to HATE group projects.....

[RyanCarolinaBoy, ADN, BSN, MSN]

I am not one to throw others under the bus, but I'm also not one to cover up for slackers. If she did not contribute, then honestly rate her and explain why. We do need yet another crop of nurses entering the field expecting to get by on the back of our already overworked nurses currently in the trenches. You need to be honest and prepared to defend your rating.

[mrsboots87]

I would rate her poorly and then leave a small note as to why you rated her that way. You gave her a chance by talking to her multiple times and she still did not do her part. The instructor just doesnt want to hear people venting about each other because they know group projects are tough because you will almost always have at least one lazy person. But the point of them is to see how you guys work as a group and how you handle conflict resolution.

In your short note, state that you guys split into mini groups. You attempted to speak with the student in question multiple times and she kept giving invalid excuses as to why she did not complete her work, You ended up having to do both your guys part by yourself so your own grade would not suffer. And that she did not contribute anything to the final project.

You can talk to your group about her behavior and see if they are on board with rating her poorly. If not, you still need to evaluate as 0-25. When the instructor brings it to the group, you may have to say something, but thats ok. Dont feel bad. She gave dumb excuses that left you with having to complete your guys portion of the project by yourself and thats just BS. She will give the instructor the same cruddy excuse she gave you, at which point the instructor will already know that they are just excuses. The instructor may or may not reduce her grade, but this could effect the student later. If she has gotten poor evaluations in previous group projects or another one in the future, then the instructors at the school will know she is not doing her part. This can affect recommendations for the student later as well as possibly their grade.

[scaredsilly, BSN, RN]

This is exactly why group projects are awful. There is always someone who does absolutely nothing and expects to get the same grade as those who work so hard. I always turned in a page with each group member listed and stated exactly what everyone did. If someone did nothing-I put that on the page. Someone else in our cohort actually started that, and by the end of first semester everyone was doing it. Those who didn't participate started getting failing grades and it resolved the problem. By third semester the slackers were either gone or working as hard as everyone else.

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

I HATE group projects. A GP ruined my last birthday. My work was done a week early to accommodate my night out with my hubby. When the others turned in their share it was obviously not sufficient per the grading rubric. I spent the next 6 hours in makeup and a TON of hairpins fixing it to protect my own grade. Was honest in my evaluation but it didn't matter. A's for everyone. BOOOH !

[ShelbyaStar]

I would be honest. That's what it's there for. I would be very fair and probably play up any of her good points (if there are any), but I would definitely be honest.

Haaate group projects. The idea is to get us used to working in groups and collaborating, and well actions have consequences. That may include a bad grade for her and her disliking you, but that doesn't sound like a big loss.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

I don't think it's fair for your professeur or your other teammates to put you on the spot like this. Your other group members should back you up so you don't wind up having to be the bad guy alone.