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ABSTRACT
This study was designed to help faculty and administrators weigh the value of using student ratings of professors' teaching effectiveness and to determine factors that may affect those ratings. For this study, conducted at a Midwestern AACSB accredited School of Business, 163 students (23% of the business majors) were surveyed to determine their perceptions concerning student ratings of faculty. Although 100% of the students surveyed believed they were honest in their evaluations, only 33% of them believed other students were honest. International students tended to give higher evaluations in math-related classes than U.S. students. Students tended to give higher evaluations to professors who used humor and to professors they liked. They did not give higher evaluations to male professors or ones under 55 years of age. The difficulty of the class did not impact students' ratings of faculty.
Keywords: student ratings; educator effectiveness; student perceptions
BACKGROUND PERSPECTIVES
In the late 1920s, Douglass (1928) noted the prevalence of differing opinions associated with student ratings of instruction. Also, he recognized the ease of collecting these opinions and potential relevance for examining them as a source of information. Yet, the complexities related to use of student evaluations continue to prevail in the 21 Century. With demands for more accountability in an environment increasingly characterized by a need to produce greater results with fewer resources, the interest in evaluation of teaching effectiveness may be expected to continue. Seemingly, various stakeholder groups, including educational administrators, students, and faculty, expect their viewpoints to be recognized.
Over the years, the focus of student rating initiatives has shifted. According to Solis (2003), initial interest originated in the 1920s as a way for students to assist each other in selecting courses. During the 1960s, more faculty members were required to be evaluated by students, and student ratings emerged as a topic of considerable research in the 1970s. Algozzine, Beattie, and Bray (2004) observed an emphasis on continued clarification as an integral component of research from the 1980s to mid-1990s. More recently, student evaluations focused on applications of technology and a variety of alternative uses, including consideration of student and professor expectancies.
McKeachie and Kaplan (n.d.) observed the potential for student rating procedures to provide valid and worthwhile information concerning instructional effectiveness....