Crossrater

Crossrater is a term used to describe a person who participates in cross-rating, the practice of obtaining independent ratings of the same material from multiple evaluators to assess consistency and reliability. In research and evaluation, the concept is typically referred to as cross-rater reliability, intercoder reliability, or interrater reliability. The goal is to ensure that judgments are not overly influenced by a single observer and to quantify the degree of agreement among raters.

Implementation usually involves a predefined coding scheme or rubric, training sessions to standardize interpretation, and procedures for resolving discrepancies. Raters independently score items, texts, images, performances, or other material. Reliability is then quantified using statistics such as Cohen's kappa for two raters, Fleiss' kappa for many raters, or intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for ordinal or continuous ratings. High cross-rater reliability indicates that the measurement is stable across different evaluators; low reliability suggests ambiguity in the criteria or insufficient training.

Applications span content analysis, educational assessment, clinical and behavioral coding, user research, and quality control in production settings. Limitations include rater bias, ambiguous rubrics, insufficient sample sizes, and assumptions underlying statistical measures. Crossrater procedures are most effective when raters share a clear understanding of criteria and when discrepant judgments are systematically reviewed and reconciled.

See also: interrater reliability, intercoder reliability, Cohen's kappa, Fleiss' kappa, ICC, coding reliability.