Assessment: A help or Hindrance to Educational Purposes
Dr. Kenan Kapukaya

Abstract
The purpose of the study is to analyze two basic types of assessment, ‘summative assessment’ and ‘formative assessment’ in order to find out which one is a more student-friendly assessment methodology. Eleven-point likert scale surveys were created in order to discover students' tendencies towards either summative assessment or formative assessment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to measure the reliability of the data gained through the surveys. 106 students were exposed to summative and formative assessments and their performances were recorded for a semester. The findings have revealed that students show different reactions to different types of assessments. It is clear that there is a big difference between the means of the items in formative assessment survey and those of summative assessment survey. Difference of preferences between summative and formative assessments are statistically significant, F (35, 70) = 1.877, p<.05. This finding indicates that students prefer formative assessment to summative assessment and find it more beneficial to academically improve themselves.

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