Same issue shows up in education, concerning grading -- if I recall the jargon correctly, "criterion-referenced" vs. "norm-referenced". Do you grade kids relative to their mastery of a standard, or on a curve? There are a lot of reasons the criterion-referenced variety is desirable, but it's also harder; how do I know what an ambitious, intellectually respectable, yet fair and potentially achievable criterion is, before I've seen what the average student can do? I suspect for most teachers (at least the ones who are trying) you start with more of a norm-referenced system and migrate to a criterion-referenced one as you get a sense of where your criteria can lie (of course, behind that is an imaginary plausible student, but at least students are being graded more relative to that one and less relative to one another).
I suspect it's easier to come up with criteria in education, though, which is after all its own little sandbox hierarchical world.
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I suspect it's easier to come up with criteria in education, though, which is after all its own little sandbox hierarchical world.
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