Whether or not it's a problem depends on the specifics of how your overall grading system works. I've always used a system where each member distributes an average of 10 points to the OTHER members and, when you have a really weak member, the opposite is more of a concern (i.e. it's an advantage to the "workers"). That's because:
1) Almost with exception, the non-contributors spread their points out as evenly as the distribution rules will allow. Thus, none of the "workers" gets a score that, by itself, is likely to have a significant impact on his or her grade.
2) the non-contributor will get very few points from the "workers"--thus, they (the "workers") have more points to distribute to each other."
In general, my advice would be to tell the worried students to be honest in their evaluations and let nature take its course. If you don't think justice has been done, then you might want to take an action that corrects the problem--but still treats everyone in the class in the same way. For example, you might consider is tossing out EVERYONE's highest and lowest scores and see if that solves the problem without creating any inequities in other groups.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Larry


On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 12:35 AM, Tom Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
A situation came up for me where a team of students wanted to know how a team member who missed a few RATs, when present rarely contributed, and almost always left at the break to miss the application exercises could fairly evaluate the team members on the peer evaluation form I distributed. They were concerned that their own evaluations would be unfairly skewed because the 'absent' student may evaluate on criteria irrelevant to the exercise. What would you do?

tom


-------------------------
Tom C. Allen
Instructor, Department of Criminology
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
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Larry K. Michaelsen, Professor of Management
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For info on:
Team-Based Learning (TBL) <www.teambasedlearning.org> 
Integrative Business Experience (IBE) <http://ucmo.edu/IBEl>
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