SHOULD SELF-NOMINATIONS BE ALLOWED IN PEER NOMINATION FORMS

The present study addressed the problem of slef-nominations in peer no mination forms (PNF) used with children to designate classroom peers w ho have superior abilities or talents. Its goal was to assess the inci dence and worth of that information. The sample consisted of 391 stude nts from 17 classes, almost evenly divided by gender and grade (4 to 8 ). The instrument was a 12-item PNF. Results revealed that self-nomina tions were very frequent (41%). A repeated measures ANOVA showed that the incidence rate was mainly influenced by the type of ability assess ed and the rank of the choices, and that both interacted with the foll owing variables: group, grade level, and gender. Self-nominations had no perceptible impact on the reliability of the talent scores. Self an d peer nominations were significantly correlated, z = .44. A much lowe r correlation was observed between self- and teacher nominations, r = .23, attributed mainly to the lower reliability of these two types of scores.