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the two researchers enlisted the assistance of 199 undergraduate students – each was given four versions of an already graded essay by an unknown instructor

graded remarks were deemed as high or low in quality with some written in red, others in blue

students were asked to read the essay and the remarks given by the instructor and then to rate how they felt about what the instructor had written and to suggest what grade they would have given the essay

also asked how they felt about the instructor that had written the original remarks

After they'd finished with their opinions, each was also given a questionnaire designed to provide the researchers with more concrete data.

the researchers found that the student volunteers didn't seem to be impacted one way or another by pen color when they agreed with the instructor's comments and grade

But when they disagreed, there were definitely some differences – mainly negative

When the instructors' comments were written in red versus blue the volunteers judged them more harshly and as a result, rated them lower in "bedside manner."

the volunteers didn't seem to judge the quality of the comments any differently – their negative feelings were aimed at the person that had written the remarks when they wrote in red ink

theorize that red ink is akin to using all caps when writing e-mail or text messages – it's like shouting at a person

those on the other end quite naturally feel a little bit abused and respond by growing angry or sad, which, they note, doesn't really promote the learning process

suggest instructors stop using red pens and go with a shade of blue instead