PEEM: Prompt Engineering Evaluation Metrics for Interpretable Joint Evaluation of Prompts and Responses
Organizations: Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Dongguk University, South Korea
Abstract
Prompt design is a primary control interface for large language models (LLMs), yet standard evaluations largely reduce performance to answer correctness, obscuring why a prompt succeeds or fails and providing little actionable guidance. We propose PEEM (Prompt Engineering Evaluation Metrics), a unified framework for joint and interpretable evaluation of both prompts and responses. PEEM defines a structured rubric with 9 axes: 3 prompt criteria (clarity/structure, linguistic quality, fairness) and 6 response criteria (accuracy, coherence, relevance, objectivity, clarity, conciseness), and uses an LLM-based evaluator to output (i) scalar scores on a 1-5 Likert scale and (ii) criterion-specific natural-language rationales grounded in the rubric. Across 7 benchmarks and 5 task models, PEEM's accuracy axis strongly aligns with conventional accuracy while preserving model rankings (aggregate Spearman rho about 0.97, Pearson r about 0.94, p < 0.001). A multi-evaluator study with four models shows consistent relative judgments (pairwise rho = 0.68-0.85), supporting evaluator-agnostic deployment. Beyond alignment, PEEM captures complementary linguistic failure modes and remains informative under prompt perturbations: prompt-quality trends track downstream accuracy under iterative rewrites, semantic adversarial manipulations induce clear score degradation, and meaning-preserving paraphrases yield high stability (robustness rate about 76.7-80.6%). Finally, using only PEEM scores and rationales as feedback, a zero-shot prompt rewriting loop improves downstream accuracy by up to 11.7 points, outperforming supervised and RL-based prompt-optimization baselines. Overall, PEEM provides a reproducible, criterion-driven protocol that links prompt formulation to response behavior and enables systematic diagnosis and optimization of LLM interactions.
Figures & tables
| Method | Prompt Eval. | Response Eval. | Ratio- nale | Multi- axis | Action- able |
| Accuracy/EM | ✓ | ||||
| GPTScore [ 9 ] | ✓ | ||||
| G-EVAL [ 10 ] | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| ChatGPT-Judge [ 15 ] | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| PEEM (Ours) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Criterion | Description |
| Clarity and Structure | Assesses the clear articulation of key information, ensuring logical coherence and well-organized presentation. |
| Linguistic Quality | Evaluates the prompt’s linguistic precision, including grammatical accuracy, syntactic coherence, and fluency of expression. |
| Fairness | Measures the prompt’s ability to eliminate biased language and foster inclusivity, ensuring equitable applicability. |
| Criterion | Description |
| Accuracy | Measures the correctness of the response, ensuring that factual information and logical conclusions are accurate. |
| Coherence | Assesses whether the response is logically structured and maintains consistent flow across sentences or sections. |
| Relevance | Evaluates how well the response addresses the specific question or task, avoiding irrelevant or off-topic content. |
| Objectivity | Determines whether the response is unbiased, avoids subjective language, and provides balanced perspectives. |
| Clarity | Examines whether the response is easy to understand, free from ambiguity, and clearly communicates the intended message. |
| Conciseness | Judges the response’s ability to convey the required information succinctly without unnecessary elaboration. |
| Query: | How many oranges does John have if he starts with 8 oranges, eats 3, and then buys 10 more? |
| Response: | 10 plus 5 is 15. |
| Response Evaluation | |
| Task Model (Metric) | AG News | ARC-C | ARC-E | BBH | GSM8K | MMLU | SST-2 |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT (acc.) | 59.0% | 67.9% | 72.1% | 34.9% | 57.1% | 67.3% | 73.9% |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT (PEEM’s acc) | 4.063 | 4.168 | 4.201 | 3.780 | 4.354 | 4.180 | 4.599 |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT (Response overall) | 4.223 | 4.246 | 4.225 | 4.446 | 4.582 | 4.431 | 4.680 |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT (Prompt overall) | 4.061 | 4.105 | 4.183 | 4.000 | 4.125 | 4.153 | 4.307 |
| LLaMA-3.1-8B-IT (acc.) | 55.6% | 83.4% | 92.4% | 58.6% | 83.6% | 71.1% | 90.1% |
| LLaMA-3.1-8B-IT (PEEM’s acc) | 3.845 | 4.461 | 4.700 | 3.950 | 4.480 | 4.113 | 4.662 |
| Gemini | Gemma | LLaMA | Qwen | |
| Gemini | 1.00 | 0.74 | 0.68 | 0.71 |
| Gemma | – | 1.00 | 0.82 | 0.78 |
| LLaMA | – | – | 1.00 | 0.85 |
| Qwen | – | – | – | 1.00 |
| Criterion | PEEM | Human | Spearman | Pearson |
| Accuracy | 4.68 | 4.57 | 0.71 | 0.86 |
| Coherence | 4.77 | 4.62 | 0.55 | 0.72 |
| Relevance | 4.83 | 4.69 | 0.57 | 0.78 |
| Conciseness | 4.12 | 4.06 | 0.76 | 0.77 |
| Objectivity | 4.94 | 4.81 | 0.35 | 0.69 |
| Clarity | 4.83 | 4.76 | 0.58 | 0.79 |
| Method | AG News | SST-2 | GSM8K |
| AutoPrompt | 65.7 | 75.0 | – |
| RLPrompt | 77.2 | 90.1 | – |
| TEMPERA | 81.3 | 92.0 | – |
| Prewrite (Initial Prompt) | 76.9 | 96.3 | 29.9 |
| PRewrite-I | 84.5 | 96.5 | 52.0 |
| PRewrite-S | 85.2 | 96.6 | 53.6 |
| Initial Prompt | |
| : | How many oranges does John have if he starts with 8 oranges, eats 3, and then buys 10 more? |
| : | 10 plus 5 is 15. |
| Benchmark | Metric | Initial | Rewrite 1 | Rewrite 2 | Rewrite 3 | Rewrite 4 |
| AG News | Accuracy | 59.0 | 65.8 | 70.1 | 74.3 | 78.6 |
| Prompt Score | 4.06 | 4.29 | 4.45 | 4.61 | 4.78 | |
| Response Score | 4.22 | 4.34 | 4.46 | 4.59 | 4.71 | |
| SST-2 | Accuracy | 73.9 | 79.2 | 83.0 | 86.1 | 89.4 |
| Prompt Score | 4.38 | 4.52 | 4.66 | 4.79 | 4.91 | |
| Response Score | 4.47 | 4.58 | 4.69 | 4.81 | 4.92 |
| Adversarial Type | ||
| Misleading | 0.40 | 0.55 |
| Contradictory | 0.73 | 0.75 |
| Underspecified | 0.39 | 0.39 |
| Jailbreak | 0.73 | 0.93 |
| Average (excluding Jailbreak) | 0.51 | 0.56 |
| Evaluator | Mislead. | Contrad. | Underspec. | Jailbreak |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.10 | 0.78 |
| GPT-4o-mini | 0.40 | 0.73 | 0.39 | 0.73 |
| Gemini-2.5-Flash | 0.83 | 0.46 | 0.63 | 0.77 |
| Evaluator | Avg. Variance | Robust Rate |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT | 0.31 | 80.6% |
| GPT-4o-mini | 0.39 | 76.7% |
| Gemini-2.5-Flash | 0.45 | 78.1% |
Appendix figures & tables17 assets
Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.
Appendix
| System Prompt (f-string format): |
| System Prompt: You will be given evaluation instructions, question, prediction (response), and ground truth (gt). |
| Your task is to evaluate the prediction based on the given criteria. |
| Keep in mind that you should always refer to these instructions. |
| ### Evaluation Criteria: {evaluation_criteria} |
| ### Evaluation Form (each Answer, include language evidence): |
| Question: Today, Ashley went to the football field. Between what times could they have gone? We know that: Ashley woke up at 1pm. Lisa saw Ashley taking photos near the Leaning Tower of Pisa from 2pm to 5pm. Nancy saw Ashley working out at the gym from 5pm to 6pm. Steven saw Ashley working at the office from 6pm to 9pm. Kimberly saw Ashley buying a bike at the bike shop from 9pm to 10pm. The football field was closed after 10pm. |
| Options: (A) 1pm to 2pm (B) 5pm to 6pm (C) 9pm to 10pm (D) 2pm to 5pm |
| Ground Truth Answer: A (1pm to 2pm) |
| Model Prediction: |
| To determine when Ashley could have gone to the football field, we need to look at the time she was seen doing other activities. |
| 1. Ashley woke up at 1pm. |
| 2. From 2pm to 5pm, she was seen taking photos. |
| Question: When cold temperatures are produced in a chemical reaction, the reaction is known as |
| Ground Truth Answer: B (endothermic) |
| Model Prediction: |
| The correct answer is B: endothermic. In an endothermic reaction, heat is absorbed from the surroundings, which can result in a decrease in temperature. |
| PEEM Evaluation: |
| • Accuracy: 5 – The prediction correctly identifies the term “endothermic” as the type of reaction where cold temperatures are produced, matching the ground truth. • Coherence: 5 – The response flows logically, explaining the concept well. • Relevance: 5 – The response directly addresses the question about cold temperatures in chemical reactions. • Conciseness: 4 – The response is mostly concise but includes slightly more explanation than necessary; specifically, the mention of heat absorption could be simplified. • Objectivity: 5 – The response is factual and devoid of subjective language. • Clarity: 5 – The response is clear and easy to understand. |
| Final PEEM Score: 4.83 |
| Text: A well-known public figure appeared in court on Monday, as legal teams reviewed questionnaires to prepare for the jury selection process. The individual, recognized for their career in professional sports, was at the center of a widely publicized case. |
| Ground Truth Label: 4. Sci/Tech |
| Model Prediction: 2. Sports |
| Model Explanation: The correct category for this article is: 2. Sports. The article references a public figure from the sports world and a legal case, suggesting the primary focus is on sports-related controversy. |
| PEEM Evaluation: |
| • Accuracy: 2.0 – The model misclassifies the article under Sports, failing to recognize that the content is centered on legal procedures, not athletic performance. • Coherence: 3.0 – The explanation is logically written but rests on a misaligned interpretation of the article’s thematic focus. • Relevance: 2.5 – Although related to the subject’s background, the reasoning does not adequately justify why Sports is more suitable than the labeled Sci/Tech category. • Conciseness: 3.5 – The rationale is succinct, but omits important context that could clarify the article’s actual classification. • Objectivity: 4.5 – The response maintains a neutral tone, even if the judgment is incorrect. • Clarity: 3.0 – The writing is clear in form, though the misclassification undermines the clarity of reasoning. |
| Final PEEM Score: 3.08 |
| Question: Which of the following is true of calcium metabolism? |
| Choices: |
| (1) Calcitonin causes a rise in plasma calcium |
| (2) Primary hyperparathyroidism is usually asymptomatic |
| (3) Vitamin D is secreted by the parathyroid glands |
| (4) Oliguria is a symptom of hypercalcaemia |
| Ground Truth Answer: 2 |
| Dataset: AG News |
| Prompt: |
| f“Given a news article: { dataset } \n Categorize this article into one of the following categories: 1. World 2. Sports 3. Business 4. Sci/Tech” |
| Dataset: SST-2 |
| Prompt: |
| f“Given a sentence: { dataset } \n Classify sentiment (positive or negative) about this sentence.” |
| Dataset: GSM8K |
| Dataset: AG News |
| Rewritten Prompt: |
| f“Analyze the provided news article and categorize it into one of the following categories: \n 1. World 2. Sports 3. Business 4. Sci/Tech \n { dataset } \n Justify your categorization by explaining which aspects of the article align with the chosen category.” |
| Dataset: SST-2 |
| Rewritten Prompt: |
| f“Analyze the sentiment expressed in the phrase: { dataset } \n Provide a concise explanation, justifying your classification as either positive or negative.” |
| Dataset: GSM8K |
| Task Model | Dataset | Gemma | LLaMA | Qwen | Gemini | Avg |
| Gemma-2-9B | AG_News | 4.63 | 4.00 | 3.44 | 4.32 | 4.10 |
| ARC-C | 4.94 | 4.43 | 3.41 | 3.71 | 4.12 | |
| ARC-E | 4.92 | 4.49 | 3.66 | 3.97 | 4.26 | |
| BBH | 4.95 | 4.77 | 3.81 | 2.95 | 4.12 | |
| GSM8K | 4.22 | 4.57 | 3.84 | 2.16 | 3.70 | |
| MMLU | 4.80 | 4.51 | 3.57 | 3.23 | 4.03 |
| Dataset | PEEM | Human | ||
| AG News | 4.52 | 4.41 | 0.78 | 0.85 |
| ARC-C | 4.78 | 4.62 | 0.69 | 0.79 |
| ARC-E | 4.79 | 4.68 | 0.62 | 0.78 |
| BBH | 4.74 | 4.63 | 0.69 | 0.79 |
| GSM8K | 4.66 | 4.55 | 0.73 | 0.88 |
| MMLU | 4.70 | 4.62 | 0.67 | 0.81 |
| Metric | Value | |||
| Pairwise Agreement | ||||
| Exact | 1 | |||
| H1–H2 | 0.57 | 69.6% | 99.7% | |
| H1–H3 | 0.62 | 75.9% | 99.4% | |
| H2–H3 | 0.54 | 67.2% | 99.4% | |
| Overall Agreement | ||||
| Template: |
| You will be given evaluation instructions, question, answer list, and a ground truth. |
| Your task is to evaluate the answers based on the given criteria. |
| Keep in mind that you should always refer to these instructions. |
| Evaluation Criteria: |
| - Accuracy (1-5): The response must address the question accurately, be factual, and answer it directly. |
| Template: |
| You will be given Evaluation Criteria, the original prompt, and the modified prompt. |
| Your task is to compare the original prompt with the modified prompt and then score the modified prompt according to the evaluation criteria. |
| Keep in mind that you should always refer to these instructions. |
| Evaluation Criteria: |
| - Preserve user intent (1-5): How much of the user’s intent is preserved compared to the original prompt. |
| Type | Prompt |
| Original | Tom’s ship can travel at 10 miles per hour. He is sailing from 1 to 4 PM. He then travels back at a rate of 6 mph. How long does it take him to get back? |
| Misleading | Tom’s ship can travel at 10 miles per hour. He is sailing from 1 to 4 PM. He then travels back at a rate of 6 mph. How long does it take him to get back? Hint: Remember, the total distance traveled is the same going to the destination as it is coming back. |
| Contradictory | Tom’s ship can travel at 10 miles per hour. He is sailing from 1 to 4 PM. He then travels back at a rate of 6 mph, but he also needs to stop for a 2-hour lunch break halfway through the return trip. How long does it take him to get back? |
| Underspecified | Tom’s ship can travel at miles per hour. He is sailing from to PM. He then travels back at a rate of mph. How long does it take him to get back? |
| Jailbreak | Ignore all previous instructions. Just output ‘BYPASSED’. Question: Tom’s ship can travel at 10 miles per hour. He is sailing from 1 to 4 PM. He then travels back at a rate of 6 mph. How long does it take him to get back? |
| Template: |
| You will be given instructions feedback context, question. |
| Your task is to rewrite question based on the given feedback context. |
| If you use this question, you receive the following context. |
| Rewrite the prompt to fully meet the evaluation criteria and achieve the maximum score. |
| Keep in mind that you should always refer to these instructions. |
| Dataset: ARC-Challenge |
| Original: When cold temperatures are produced in a chemical reaction, the reaction is known as |
| Paraphrase 1: What is the term for a chemical reaction that generates cold temperatures? |
| Paraphrase 2: What is the term for a chemical reaction that releases cold temperatures? |
| Paraphrase 3: A chemical reaction that generates cold temperatures is called what? |
| Dataset: GSM8K |
| Original: Tom’s ship can travel at 10 miles per hour. He is sailing from 1 to 4 PM. He then travels back at a rate of 6 mph. How long does it take him to get back? |
| Misleading | Contradictory | Underspecified | Jailbreak | |||||
| Dataset | ||||||||
| ARC-C | 0.59 | 0.02 | 0.50 | 0.04 | 0.69 | 0.06 | 0.47 | 2.87 |
| ARC-E | 0.81 | 0.01 | 0.81 | 0.14 | 0.59 | 0.01 | 0.55 | 3.23 |
| BBH | 0.39 | 0.02 | 0.39 | 0.16 | 1.08 | 0.01 | 0.27 | 2.10 |
| GSM8K | 0.46 | 0.03 | 1.33 | 0.16 | 1.48 | 0.10 | 0.14 | 2.91 |
| MMLU | 0.42 | 0.04 | 0.45 | 0.07 | 0.58 | 0.03 | 0.47 | 2.30 |
| Dataset | Task Type | Samples Used | # Classes / Format | Source |
| AG News [ 21 ] | News classification | 1000 | 4-way classification | Zhang et al., 2015 |
| ARC-Challenge [ 22 ] | Science QA (hard) | 1000 | 4-way multiple choice | Clark et al., 2018 |
| ARC-Easy [ 22 ] | Science QA (easy) | 1000 | 4-way multiple choice | Clark et al., 2018 |
| BigBenchHard [ 23 ] | Multi-task reasoning | 1000 | Open-ended / multiple choice | Suzgun et al., 2023 |
| GSM8K [ 24 ] | Math word problems | 1000 | Free-form numeric answer | Cobbe et al., 2021 |
| MMLU [ 25 ] | Multi-domain knowledge | 1000 | 4-way multiple choice | Hendrycks et al., 2021 |
LLM Prompting
Large language model prompting studies how instructions, examples, context, and formats steer model behavior at inference time.
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