Judging Drawing Abilities of Hong Kong Chinese Gifted Students: Could Nonexperts Make Expert-Like Judgments?

Abstract

Two drawings based on tasks originally used in Clark's Drawing Abilities Test from each of 297 Chinese students were first evaluated independently by two Chinese visual artists as below average, average, and above average in drawing abilities. Based on these judges' verbalization to make explicit their implicit criteria for judgments, a set of guidelines containing these criteria was developed for nonexpert or lay judges. The substantial and significant correlations between global ratings by lay judges and expert judges on the drawings of a separate sample of 105 students provided evidence that the guidelines were useful in helping nonexperts closely replicate expert judgments rendered by visual artists. Implications of the findings for the identification of visual arts talents in the school setting are discussed.

Putting the Research to Use: Assessing and identifying students with visual arts talents to support their artistic development often constitutes a problem in schools where no resident artists could be readily called on to help make the judgment. This study on judging drawing abilities of students offers grounds for optimism in demonstrating that lay judges could make judgments approaching those of visual artists, especially when these lay judges were provided with guidelines based on the verbalized criteria of expert judges. The set of guidelines developed in this study also serves as an example for future development of simpler and more refined guidelines that hold promise for applications in multicultural settings.