Abstract
As indicated by the reliability of individual ratings, college students are only moderately consistent in rating their teachers and courses, although these modest interrater associations do produce substantial reliabilities for composite ratings when the ratings of at least 20 to 25 students in a class are averaged together. The patterning and correlates of variability of student ratings within classes are examined. Certain attributes and experiences of students are weakly related to their ratings, and inconsistently so, across studies; others are more strongly and consistently related. Various correlates of student ratings have also been found to interact as well as linearly combine with one another in their association with ratings. Moreover, certain kinds of “fit” between teachers and different students in their classes are related to ratings. Whether various correlates of within-class ratings are to be interpreted as biasing factors or as natural influences on social perception is analyzed in terms of whether students' ratings are objective descriptions or subjective, evaluative reactions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aleamoni, L. M. (1974). Typical faculty concerns about student evaluation of instruction. Presented at the Symposium on Methods of Improving University Teaching at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
Aleamoni, L. M., Yimer, M., and Mahan, J. M. (1972). Teacher folklore and sensitivity of a course evaluation questionnaire. Psychological Reports 31: 607–614.
Anastasi, A. (1968). Psychological Testing (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Apt, M. H. (1966). A measurement of college instructor behavior. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
Baker, P. C., and Remmers, H. H. (1951). Progress in research on personnel evaluation. Journal of Teacher Education 2: 143–146.
Batista, E., and Brandenburg, D. C. (1975). Expected grades, class size, and student ratings of instructors. Research Report No. 357. Urbana-Champaign, Ill.: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
Bausell, R. B., and Magoon, J. (1972a). Expected grade in a course, grade point average, and student ratings of the course and the instructor. Educational and Psychological Measurement 32: 1013–1023.
Bausell, R. B., and Magoon, J. (1972b). Instructional methods and college student ratings of courses and instructors. Journal of Experimental Education 40: 29–33.
Bausell, R. B., and Magoon, J. (1972c). The persistence of first impressions in course and instructor evaluations. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Bausell, R. B., and Magoon, J. (1972d). The Validation of Student Ratings of Instruction: An Institutional Research Model. Newark, DE: College of Education, University of Delaware.
Bejar, I. I. (1975). A survey of selected administrative practices supporting student evaluation. Research in Higher Education 3, 77–86.
Bejar, I. I., and Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1975). Student Ratings of Instruction: Expectations, First Impressions, and Evaluations. Minneapolis, MN: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota.
Bejar, I. I., and Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1977). The effect of prior expectations on the structure and elevation of student ratings of teaching behavior. Journal of Educational Measurement, in press.
Bendig, A. W. (1952a). A preliminary study of the effect of academic level, sex, and course variables on student rating of psychology instructors. Journal of Psychology 34: 21–26.
Bendig, A. W. (1952b). A statistical report on a revision of the Miami Instructor Rating Sheet. Journal of Educational Psychology 43: 423–429.
Bendig, A. W. (1952c). The use of student-rating scales in the evaluation of instructors in introductory psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology 43: 167–175.
Bendig, A. W. (1953a). Comparison of psychology instructors and national norms on the Purdue Rating Scale. Journal of Educational Psychology 44: 435–439.
Bendig, A. W. (1953b). Student achievement in introductory psychology and student ratings of the competence and empathy of their instructors. Journal of Psychology 36: 427–433.
Blank, L. F. (1970). Student-faculty psychological types and student instructional ratings. Oshkosh, WI: Wisconsin State University, Oshkosh, 1970. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 040 422.
Blass, T. (1974). Measurement of objectivity-subjectivity: Effects of tolerance for imbalance and grades on evaluations of teachers. Psychological Reports 34: 1199–1213.
Brooks, T. E., Tarver, D. A., Kelley, H. P., Liberty, P. G., Jr., and Dickerson, A. D. (1971). Dimensions underlying student ratings of courses and instructors at the University of Texas at Austin: Instructor Evaluation Form 2. Research Bulletin RB-71-4. Austin, TX: Measurement and Evaluation Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Byrne, D. (1964). Assessing personality variables and their alteration. In P. Worchel and D. Byrne (Eds.), Personality Change. New York: Wiley.
Caffrey, B. (1969). Lack of bias in student evaluations of teachers. Proceedings of the 77th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association 4: 641–642.
Canter, F. M., and Meisels, M. (1971). Cognitive dissonance and course evaluation. Improving College and University Teaching 19: 111–113.
Capozza, D. R. (1973). Student evaluations, grades and learning in economics. Western Economic Journal 11: 127.
Carney, R. E. (1961). An analysis of university student behaviors with measures of ability, attitude, performance and personality. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.
Carter, R. E. (1968). The effect of student characteristics on three student evaluations of university instruction. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.
Cattell, R. B. (1957). Personality and Motivation Structure and Measurement. Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY: World Book.
Centra, J. A. (1972). Two studies on utility of student ratings for improving teaching: I. The effectiveness of student feedback in modifying college instruction. II. Self-ratings of college teachers: A comparison with student ratings. SIR Report No. 2. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Centra, J. A. (1973). The Student Instructional Report: Comparisons with alumni ratings; item reliabilities; the factor structures. SIR Report No. 3. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Centra J. A. (1974). College teaching: Who should evaluate it? Findings 1 (No. 1): 5–8.
Centra, J. A. (1975). Colleagues as raters of classroom instruction. Journal of Higher Education 46: 327–337.
Centra, J. A. (1977). Student ratings of instruction and their relationship to student learning. American Educational Research Journal 14: 17–24.
Centra, J. A., and Linn, R. L. (1973). Student points of view in ratings of college instruction. Research Bulletin RB-73-60. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Christensen, L. B., and Bourgeois, A. E. (1974). Student ratings of instructional effectiveness. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Clark, K. E., and Keller, R. J. (1954). Student ratings of college teaching. In R. E. Eckert and R. J. Keller (Eds.), A University Looks at Its Program: The Report of the University of Minnesota Bureau of Institutional Research, 1942–1952. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Cobb, E. B. (1956). Construction of a forced-choice university instructor rating scale. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tennessee.
Cochran, W. G. (1968). Errors of measurement in statistics. Technometrics 10: 637–666.
Cohen, J., and Humphreys, L. G. Report on the student evaluation of undergraduate courses, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois (Mimeographed).
Colliver, J. A. (1972). A report on student evaluation of faculty teaching performance at Sangamon State University. Technical Paper No. 1. Springfield, Ill.: Division of Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice President, Sangamon State University.
Cooke, L. S. (1952). An analysis of certain factors which affect student attitudes toward a basic college course, effective living. Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State College.
Coombs, C. H. (1964). A Theory of Data. New York: Wiley.
Corcoran, M. E. (1957). The role of personal attitudes in student evaluation of an introductory education course. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Cosgrove, D. J. (1959). Diagnostic rating of teacher performance. Journal of Educational Psychology 50: 200–204.
Costin, F., Greenough, W. T., and Menges, R. J. (1971). Student ratings of college teaching: Reliability, validity, and usefulness. Review of Educational Research 41: 511–535.
Cornfield, J., and Tukey, J. W. (1956). Average values of mean squares in factorials. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 27: 907–949.
Crichton, L. I., and Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1975). Reliability of ratings. Minneapolis, Minn.: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota.
Crittenden, K. S., and Norr, J. L. (1973). Student values and teacher evaluation: A problem in person perception. Sociometry 36: 143–151.
Crittenden, K. S., and Norr, J. L. (1975). Some remarks on “Student Ratings”: The validity problem. American Educational Research Journal 12: 429–433.
Cronbach, L. J., Gleser, G. C., Nanda, H., and Rajaratnam, N. (1972). The Dependability of Behavioral Measurements: Theory of Generalizability for Scores and Profiles. New York: Wiley.
Crouch, H. B., and Leathers, C. M. (1951). The validity of student opinions in evaluating a program of college biology. Science Education 35: 73–76.
Crowe, M. H. (1974). Selected student characteristics and their relationship to course ratings. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.
Davis, R. H. (1969). Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS): Technical bulletin. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.
Davison, D. C. (1973). Perception of instructor in relation to self and evaluation of instructor's performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills 36: 533–534.
Day, C. R. (1969). Assumed similarity to others: Some determinants and consequences. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University.
Delaney, E. L. (1976). The relationships of student ratings of instruction to student, instructor and course characteristics. Presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Deshpande, A. S., Webb, S. C., and Marks, E. (1970). Student perceptions of engineering instructor behaviors and their relationships to the evaluation of instructors and courses. American Educational Research Journal 7: 289–305.
Dick, W. (1967). Course Attitude Questionnaire: Its development, uses and research results. Report No. 67-1 (revision of No. 106, revised by D. Stickell). University Park, PA: Office of Examination Services, University Division of Instructional Services, Pennsylvania State University.
Domino, G. (1971). Interactive effects of achievement orientation and teaching style on academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 62: 427–431.
Downie, N. M. (1952). Student evaluation of faculty. Journal of Higher Education 23: 495–496, 503.
Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1972). Construction and evaluation of scales for rating college instructors. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1975). Student Evaluation of Instruction. Lexington, MA: Heath.
Doyle, K. O., Jr., and Whitely, S. E. (1974). Student ratings as criteria for effective teaching. American Educational Research Journal 11: 259–274.
Dwyer, F. (1968). A review of characteristics and relationships of selected criteria for evaluating teacher effectiveness. University Park, PA: University Division of Instructional Services, Pennsylvania State University.
Ebel, R. L. (1951). Estimation of the reliability of ratings. Psychometrika 16: 407–424.
Echandia, P. P. (1963). A methodological study and factor analytic validation of forced-choice performance ratings of college accounting instructors. Ph.D. dissertation, New York University.
Edwards, A. L. (1957). The Social Desirability Variability in Personality Assessment and Research. New York: Dryden.
Elliott, D. N. (1950). Characteristics and relationships of various criteria of college and university teaching. Purdue University Studies in Higher Education 70: 5–61.
Elmore, P. B., and LaPointe, K. A. (1974). Effects of teacher sex and student sex on the evaluation of college instructors. Journal of Educational Psychology 66: 386–389.
Elmore, P. B., and LaPointe, K. A. (1975). Effect of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth on the evaluation of college instructors. Journal of Educational Psychology 67: 368–374.
Elmore, P. B., and Pohlmann, J. T. (1976). Effect of teacher, student, and class characteristics on the evaluation of college instructors. Technical Report 2.1-76. Carbondale, IL: Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Center, Southern Illinois University.
Endo, G. T., and Della-Piana, G. (1976). A validation study of course evaluation ratings. Improving College and University Teaching 24: 84–86.
Feldman, K. A. (1976a). Grades and college students' evaluations of their courses and teachers. Research in Higher Education 4: 69–111.
Feldman, K. A. (1976b). The superior college teacher from the students' view. Research in Higher Education 5:243–288.
Fenker, R. M. (1975). The evaluation of university faculty and administrators: A case study. Journal of Higher Education 46: 665–686.
Ferber, M. A., and Huber, J. A. (1975). Sex of student and instructor: A study of student bias. American Journal of Sociology 80: 949–963.
Flood Page, C. (1974). Student Evaluation of Teaching: The American Experience. London: Society for Research into Higher Education.
Follman, J. (1975). Student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness: Rater or ratee characteristics. Research in Higher Education 3: 155–167.
Follman, J., Lavely, C., Silverman, S., and Merica, J. (1974). Student raters' referents in rating college teaching effectiveness. Journal of Psychology 86: 247–249.
Follman, J., Lucoff, M., Small, L., and Power, F. (1974). Kinds of keys of student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness. Research in Higher Education 2: 173–179.
Freehill, M. F. (1967). Authoritarian bias and evaluation of college experiences. Improving College and University Teaching 15: 18–19.
French-Lazovik, G. (1974). Predictability of students' evaluations of college teachers from component ratings. Journal of Educational Psychology 66: 373–385.
Frey, P. W. (1973). Student ratings of teaching: Validity of several rating factors. Science 182: 83–85.
Frey, P. W. (1974). The ongoing debate: Student evaluation of teaching. Change February: 47–48, 64.
Frey, P. W. (1976). Validity of student instructional ratings as a function of their timing. Journal of Higher Education 47: 327–336.
Frey, P. W., Leonard, D. W., and Beatty, W. W. (1975). Student ratings of instruction: Validation research. American Educational Research Journal 12: 435–444.
Frick, T., and Semmel, M. (1974). Observational records: Observer agreement and reliabilities. Bloomington, IN: Center for Innovation in Teaching the Handicapped, School of Education, University of Indiana.
Fulcher, D. G., and Anderson, W. T., Jr. (1974). Interpersonal dissimilarity and teaching effectiveness: A relational analysis. Journal of Educational Research 68: 19–25.
Gery, F. W. (1972). Does mathematics matter? In A. L. Welsh (Ed.), Research Papers in Economic Education. New York: Joint Council on Economic Education.
Ghiselli, E. E., and Ghiselli, W. B. (1972). Ratings—Kundgabe orBeschreibung. Journal of Psychology 80: 263–271.
Gillmore, G. M. (1973). Estimates of reliability coefficients for items and subscales of the Illinois Course Evaluation Questionnaire. Research Report No. 341. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
Gillmore, G. M. (1975). Statistical analysis of the data from the first year of use of the Student Rating Forms of the University of Washington Instructional Assessment System. EAC Report 503. Seattle, WA: Educational Assessment Center, University of Washington.
Gillmore, G. M., Kane, M. T., and Naccarato, R. W. (1976). The generalizability of student instructional ratings: General theory and application to the Washington Instructional Assessment System. EAC Report 74-16. Seattle, WA: Educational Assessment Center, University of Washington.
Gillmore, G. M., and Naccarato, R. W. (1975). The effect of factors outside the instructor's control on student ratings of instruction. EAC Report 283A. Seattle, WA: Educational Assessment Center, University of Washington.
Good, K. C. (1971). Similarity of student and instructor attitudes and student's attitudes toward instructors. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.
Good, K. C., and Good, L. (1973). Assumed attitude similarity and instructor evaluation. Journal of Social Psychology 91: 285–290.
Grande, P. P., and McCollester, C. W. Psychological correlates of students' evaluation of teaching. Unpublished.
Granzin, K. L., and Painter, J. J. (1973). A new explanation for students' course evaluation tendencies. American Educational Research Journal 10: 115–124.
Granzin, K. L., and Painter, J. J. (1975). A multivariate analysis of factors underlying student evaluations of college instructors. California Journal of Educational Research 26: 96–106.
Granzin, K. L., and Painter, J. J. (1976). A second look at cognitive dissonance and course evaluation. Improving College and University Teaching 24: 113–115.
Greenwood, G. E., Bridges, C. M., Jr., Ware, W. B., and McLean, J. E. (1973). Student Evaluation of College Teaching Behaviors instrument: A factor analysis. Journal of Higher Education 44: 596–604.
Grush, J. E., Clore, G. L., and Constin, F. (1975). Dissimilarity and attraction: When difference makes a difference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32: 783–789.
Guilford, J. P. (1954). Psychometric Methods (2nd ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill.
Guthrie, E. R. (1927). Measuring student opinion of teachers. School and Society 25: 175–176.
Guthrie, E. R. (1945). Evaluation of faculty service. American Association of University Professors Bulletin 31: 255–262.
Guthrie, E. R. (1949). The evaluation of teaching. Educational Record 30: 109–115.
Guthrie, E. R. (1954). The evaluation of teaching: A progress report. Seattle, WA: University of Washington.
Haggard, E. A. (1958). Intraclass Correlation and the Analysis of Variance. New York: Dryden.
Halstead, J. S. (1972). Students' ratings of college classroom verbal interaction as related to ratings of instructor teaching effectiveness. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.
Harari, O., and Zedeck, S. (1974). Development of behaviorally anchored scales for the evaluation of faculty teaching. Journal of Applied Psychology 58: 261–265.
Harry, J., and Goldner, N. S. (1972). The null relationship between teaching and research. Sociology of Education 45: 47–60.
Haslett, B. J. (1976). Student knowledgeability, student sex, class size, and class level: Their interactions and influences on student ratings of instruction. Research in Higher Education 5: 39–65.
Helmstadter, G. C. (1964). Principles of Psychological Measurement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Heyns, R. W., and Lippitt, R. (1954). Systematic observational techniques. In G. Lindzey (Ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. I. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Hildebrand, M., Wilson, R. C., and Dienst, E. R. (1971). Evaluating University Teaching. Berkeley, CA: Center for Research and Development in Higher Education, University of California at Berkeley.
Hillery, J. M., and Yukl, G. A. (1971). Convergent and discriminant validation of student ratings of college instructors. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association.
Hirschi, R., and Selvin, H. C. (1967). Delinquency Research: An Appraisal of Analytic Methods. New York: Free Press.
Hocking, J. M. (1976). College students' evaluations of faculty are directly related to course interest and grade expectation. College Student Journal 10: 312–316.
Horst, P. (1949). A generalized expression for the reliability of measures. Psychometrika 14: 21–31.
Hoyt, D. P. (1969). Instructional effectiveness. II. Identifying effective classroom procedures. Report No. 7. Manhatten, KS: Office of Educational Research, Kansas State University.
Hoyt, D. P. (1973a). Identifying effective educational procedures. Improving College and University Teaching 21: 73–76.
Hoyt, D. P. (1973b). Measurement of instructional effectiveness. Research in Higher Education 1: 367–378.
Hoyt, D. P., Owens, R. E., and Grouling, T. (1973). Interpreting “Student Feedback on Instruction and Courses”: A manual for using student feedback to improve instruction. Manhatten, KS: Office of Educational Resources, Kansas State University.
Hoyt, D. P., and Spangler, R. K. (1976). Faculty research involvement and instructional outcomes. Research in Higher Education 4: 113–122.
Jernstedt, G. C. (1976). The relative effectiveness of individualized and traditional instruction methods. Journal of Educational Research 69: 211–220.
Jiobu, R. M., and Pollis, C. A. (1971). Student evaluations of courses and instructors. American Sociologist 6: 317–321.
Kane, M. T., and Brennan, R. L. (1977). The generalizability of class means. Review of Educational Research, 47: 267–292.
Kane, M. T., Gillmore, G. M., and Crooks, T. J. (1977). Student evaluations of teaching: The generalizability of class means. Journal of Educational Measurement, in press.
Kapel, D. E. (1974). Assessment of a conceptually based instructor evaluation form. Research in Higher Education 2: 1–24.
Kelley, A. C. (1972). Uses and abuses of course evaluations and measures of educational output. Journal of Economic Education 4: 13–18.
Kennedy, W. R. (1971). The relationship of selected student characteristics to components of teacher/course evaluations among freshmen English students at Kent State University. Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University.
Kennedy, W. R. (1972). The relationship of selected student characteristics to components of teacher/course evaluations among freshman English students at Kent State University. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Kerlinger, F. N. (1963). Educational attitudes and perceptions of teachers: Suggestions for teacher-effectiveness research. School Review 71: 1–11.
Kerlinger, F. N. (1973). Foundations of Behavioral Research (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Kline, C. R., Jr. (1975). Students rate profs in accord with grade expectations. Phi Delta Kappan 57: 54.
Kohlan, Richard G. (1973). A comparison of faculty evaluations early and late in the course. Journal of Higher Education 44: 587–595.
Kovacs, R., and Kapel, D. E. (1976). Personality correlates of faculty and course evaluations. Research in Higher Education 5: 335–344.
Kulik, J. A., and Kulik, C. C. (1974). Student ratings of instruction. Teaching of Psychology 1: 51–57.
Kulik, J. A., and McKeachie, W. J. (1975). The evaluation of teachers in higher education. In F. N. Kerlinger (Ed.), Review of Research in Education, Vol. 3. Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock.
Leftwich, W. H., and Remmers, H. H. (1962). A comparison of graphic and forced-choice ratings of teaching performance at the college and university level. Purdue University Studies in Higher Education, No. 92, 3–31.
Levenson, H., and LeUnes, A. (1974). Student evaluation of an instructor: Effects of attitude similarity. Psychological Reports 34: 1074.
Leventhal, L., Abrami, P. C., and Perry, R. P. (1976). Do teacher rating forms reveal as much about students as about teachers? Journal of Educational Psychology 68: 441–445.
Leventhal, L. Abrami, P. C., Perry, R. P., and Breen, L. J. (1975). Section selection in multi-section courses: Implications for the validation and use of teacher rating forms. Educational and Psychological Measurement 35: 885–895.
Levinthal, C. F. (1974). An analysis of the teacher evaluation process. Final Report, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, National Institutes of Education, Project No. 2B089. Hempstead, NY: Hofstra University.
Levinthal, C. F., Lansky, L. M., and Andrews, O. E. (1971). Student evaluations of teacher behaviors as estimations of real-ideal discrepancies: A critique of teacher rating methods. Journal of Educational Psychology 62: 104–109.
Lewis, E. C. (1964). An investigation of student-teacher interaction as a determiner of effective teaching. Journal of Educational Research 57: 360–363.
Lewis, D. R., and Dahl, T. (1972). Factors influencing performance in the principles course revisited. In A. L. Welsh (Ed.), Research Papers in Economic Education. New York: Joint Council on Economic Education.
Lewis, D. R., and Orvis, C. C. (1973). A training system for graduate student instructors of introductory economics at the University of Minnesota. Journal of Economic Education 5: 38–46.
Linn, R. L., Centra, J. A., and Tucker, L. R. (1974). Between, within, and total group factor analyses of student ratings of instruction. Research Bulletin RB-74-39. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Loevinger, J. (1947). A systematic approach to the construction and evaluation of tests of ability. Psychological Monographs 61 (4, Whole No. 285).
Loevinger, J. (1965). Person and population as psychometric concepts. Psychological Review 72: 143–155.
Lord, F. M., and Novick, M. R. (1968). Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Lovell, G. D., and Haner, C. F. (1955). Forced-choice applied to college faculty rating. Educational and Psychological Measurement 15: 291–304.
Lunney, G. H. (1974). Attitudes of senior students from a small liberal arts college concerning faculty and course evaluation: Some possible explanations of evaluation results. Research Report No. 32. Danville, KY: Office of Institutional Research, Centre College of Kentucky.
Maas, J. B., and Owen, T. R. (1973). Cornell Inventory for Student Appraisal of Teaching and Courses: Manual of instructions. Ithaca, NY: Center for Improvement of Undergraduate Education, Cornell University.
Magoon, A. J., and Bausell, R. B. The pass fail option and course and instructor ratings: A discriminant analysis. Unpublished.
Magoon, A. J., and Price, J. R. (1972). Rating dimensions of course and instructor characteristics: The eye of the beholder. Presented at the American Educational Research Association.
Majer, K., and Stayrook, N. (1974). Reliability of college classroom course evaluations. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Mallory, E. B., Huggins, M., and Steinberg, B. (1941). Journal of Educational Psychology, 32: 13–22.
Maney, A. C. (1959). The authoritarianism dimension in student evaluations of faculty. Journal of Educational Sociology 32: 226–231.
Mann, R. D., Arnold, S. M., Binder, J. L., Cytrynbaum, S., Newman, B. M., Ringwald, B. E., Ringwald, J. W., and Rosenwein, R. (1970). The College Classroom: Conflict, Change, and Learning. New York: Wiley.
Marsh, H. W., Fleiner, H., and Thomas, C. S. (1975). Validity and usefulness of student evaluations of instructional quality. Journal of Educational Psychology 67: 833–839.
Maslow, A. H., and Zimmerman, W. (1956). College teaching ability, scholarly activity and personality. Journal of Educational Psychology 47: 185–189.
McClelland, J. N. (1970). The effect of student evaluations of college instruction upon subsequent evaluations. California Journal of Educational Research 21: 88–95.
McDaniel, E. D. (1972). Student preferences and evaluation of faculty. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.
McInnis, T. (1966). Some methodological considerations and a report of some research findings concerning course and/or teacher evaluations by students. Research Report No. 231. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
McKeachie, W. J. (1973). Correlates of student ratings. In A. L. Sockloff (Ed.), Proceedings of the First Invitational Conference on Faculty Effectiveness as Evaluated by Students. Philadelphia, PA: Measurement and Research Center, Temple University.
Medley, D. M., and Mitzel, H. E. (1963). Measuring classroom behavior by systematic observation. In N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Menard, T. L. (1972). An analysis of the relationship between teacher effectiveness and teacher appearance. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Northern Colorado.
Menges, R. J. (1969). Student-instructor cognitive compatibility in the large lecture class. Journal of Personality 37: 444–458.
Menges, R. J. (1973). The new reporters: Students rate instruction. New Directions for Higher Education 1: 59–75.
Menne, J. (1968). Students' evaluation of instructors. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Menzel, H. (1950). Communication on Robinson's “Ecological Correlations and the Behavior of Individuals.” American Sociological Review 15: 674.
Miller, R. I. (1972). Evaluating Faculty Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miller, R. I. (1974). Developing Programs for Faculty Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Murdock, R. P. (1969). The effect of student ratings of their instructor on the student's achievement and ratings. Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Project No. 9-H-014. Salt Lake City: University of Utah.
Murray, H. G. The reliability and validity of student ratings of faculty teaching ability. Unpublished.
Murray, H. G. (1975). Predicting student ratings of college teaching from peer ratings of personality traits. Teaching of Psychology 2: 66–69.
Nichols, M. G. (1967). A study of the influences of selected variables involved in student evaluations of teacher effectiveness. Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Dakota.
Norr, J. L., and Crittenden, K. S. (1975). Evaluating college teaching as leadership. Higher Education 4: 335–350.
Null, E. J., and Nicholson, E. W. (1972). Personal variables of students and their perception of university instructors. College Student Journal 6: 6–9.
Null, E. J., and Walter, J. E. (1972). Values of students and their ratings of a university professor. College Student Journal 6: 46–51.
Nunnally, J. C. (1967). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Office of Evaluation Services. (1972). Student Instructional Rating System responses and student characteristics. SIRS Research Report No. 4. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.
Oles, H. J. (1975). Stability of student evaluation of instructors and their courses with implications for validity. Educational and Psychological Measurement 35: 437–445.
Page, M. M., and Roy, R. E. (1975). Internal-external control and independence of judgment in course evaluations among college students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1: 509–512.
Parent, J., Forward, J., Canter, R., and Mohling, J. (1975). Interactive effects of teaching strategy and personal locus of control on student performance and satisfaction. Journal of Educational Psychology 67: 764–769.
Patton, H. M., and Meyer, P. R. (1955). A forced choice rating form for college teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology 46: 499–503.
Perkins, E. R. (1971). Relationships among empathy, genuineness, nonpossessive warmth, and college teacher effectiveness and selected characteristics. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kentucky.
Perry, R. P., Niemi, R. R., and Jones, K. (1974). Effect of prior teaching evaluations and lecture presentation on ratings of teaching performance. Journal of Educational Psychology 66: 851–856.
Perry, R. R., and Baumann, R. R. (1973). Criteria for the evaluation of college teaching: Their reliability and validity at the University of Toledo. In A. L. Sockloff (Ed.), Proceedings of the First Invitational Conference on Faculty Effectiveness as Evaluated by Students. Philadelphia, PA: Measurement and Research Center, Temple University.
Peters, C. C., and Van Voorhis, W. R. (1940). Statistical Procedurès and Their Mathematical Bases. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Phillips, B. N. (1960). Authoritarian, hostile, and anxious students' ratings of an instructor. California Journal of Educational Research 11: 19–23.
Pohlmann, J. T. (1972). Summary of research on the relationship between student characteristics and student evaluations of instruction at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Technical Report 1.1-72. Carbondale, IL: Counseling and Testing Center, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Pohlmann, J. T. (1973). Evaluating instructional effectiveness with the Instructional Improvement Questionnaire. Technical Report 5.1-73. Carbondale, IL: Counseling and Testing Center, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Pohlmann, J. T. (1975). A multivariate analysis of selected class characteristics and student ratings of instruction. Multivariate Behavioral Research 10: 81–92.
Pohlmann, J., and Tuinen, M. V. (1972). Norms for required and elective course level for IIQ subscales. Technical Report 11.1-72. Carbondale, IL: Counseling and Testing Center, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Potter, N. R. (1969). The relationships of selected student characteristics to teacher ratings. Ph.D. dissertation, Colorado State College.
Pratt, M., and Pratt, T. A. E. C. (1976). A study of student-teacher grading interaction process. Improving College and University Teaching 24: 73–81.
Price, J. A., and Magoon, A. J. (1971). Predictors of college student ratings of instructors. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Purohit, A., and Magoon, A. J. (1971). The validity of student-run course evaluations. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Purohit, A., and Magoon, A. J. (1974). Congruence in attitude of instructors and students towards course evaluation. College Student Journal 8: 29–36.
Quereshi, M. Y., and Widlak, F. W. (1973). Students' perception of a college teacher as a function of their sex and achievement level. Journal of Experimental Education 41: 53–57.
Rayder, N. F. (1967). College student ratings of instructors. Ph.D. dissertation, Colorado State College.
Rayder, N. F. (1968). College student ratings of instructors. Journal of Experimental Education 37: 76–81.
Remmers, H. H., and Elliott, D. N. (1949). The Indiana College and University Staff-Evaluation Program. School and Society 70: 168–171.
Remmers, H. H., Shock, N. W., and Kelly, E. L. (1927). An empirical study of the validity of the Spearman-Brown formula as applied to the Purdue Rating Scale. Journal of Educational Psychology 18: 187–195.
Remmers, H. H., and Weisbrodt, J. A. (1964). Manual of Instructions for Purdue Rating Scale of Instruction. Purdue, IN: Purdue Research Foundation.
Rezler, A. G. (1965). The influence of needs upon the student's perception of his instructor. Journal of Educational Research 58: 282–286.
Riechmann, S. W. (1974). The relationship between student classroom-related variables and students' evaluations of faculty. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cincinnati.
Riley, J. W., Jr., Ryan, B. F., and Lifshitz, M. (1950). The Student Looks at His Teacher: An Inquiry into the Implications of Student Ratings at the College Level. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Rosenshine, B., Cohen, A., and Furst, N. (1973). Correlates of student preference ratings. Journal of College Student Personnel 14: 269–272.
Rozeboom, W. W. (1966). Foundations of the Theory of Prediction. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
Rumery, R. E., Rhodes, D. M., and Johnson, H. C., Jr. (1975). The role of student reports in the evaluation of teaching in higher education. Higher Education Bulletin 3: 93–99.
Saunders, P. (1972). Student learning and instructor ratings: The Carnegie-Mellon experience in introductory economics. In A. L. Welsh (Ed.), Research Papers in Economic Education. New York: Joint Council on Economic Education.
Schuessler, K. (1971). Analyzing Social Data: A Statistical Orientation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Scott, O., Halpin, G., and Schnittjer, C. (1974). Student characteristics associated with student perceptions of college instruction. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Seldin, P. (1975). How Colleges Evaluate Professors: Current Policies and Practices in Evaluating Classroom Teaching Performance in Liberal Arts Colleges. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: Blythe-Pennington.
Shapiro, P. (1974). After data collection: Coding—an educational research tool. SRIS Quarterly 7: 16–23.
Sharon, A. T. (1970). Eliminating bias from student ratings of college instructors. Journal of Applied Psychology 54: 278–281.
Sharon, A. T., and Bartlett, C. J. (1969). Effect of instructional conditions in producing leniency on two types of rating scales. Personnel Psychology 22: 251–263.
Sheehan, D. S. (1975). On the invalidity of student ratings for administrative personnel decisions. Journal of Higher Education 46: 687–700.
Sherman, T. M., and Winstead, J. C. (1975). A formative approach to student evaluation instruction. Educational Technology 15: 34–39.
Singhal, S. Inter-group differences on Course Evaluation Questionnaire. Research Report No. 262. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
Singhal, S. (1968). Illinois Course Evaluation Questionnaire items by rank of instructor, sex of instructor and sex of the student. Research Report No. 282. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
Sloane, P. E. (1972). The relationship of performance to instruction and student attitudes. In A. L. Welsh (Ed.), Research Papers in Economic Education. New York: Joint Council on Economic Education.
Snedeker, J. H. (1959). The construction of a forced-choice rating scale for college instruction. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.
Sockloff, A. L. (1973). Instruments for student evaluation of faculty: Ideal and actual. In A. L. Sockloff (Ed.), Proceedings of the First Invitational Conference on Faculty Effectiveness as Evaluated by Students. Philadelphia, PA: Measurement and Research Center, Temple University.
Sockloff, A. L. (1975). Behavior of the product-moment correlation when two heterogeneous subgroups are pooled. Educational and Psychological Measurement 35: 267–276.
Sockloff, A. L., and Deabler, V. T. (1971). The construction of the Faculty and Course Evaluation Instrument. Research Report 71-2. Philadelphia, PA: Testing Bureau, Temple University.
Soper, J. C. (1973). Soft research on a hard subject: Student evaluations reconsidered. Journal of Economic Education 5: 22–26.
Sorge, D. H., and Kline, C. E. (1973). Verbal behavior of college instructors and attendant effect upon student attitudes and achievements. College Student Journal 7: 24–29.
Spencer, R. E. Judge consistency of Course Evaluation Questionnaire ratings. Research Report No. 211. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Office of Instructional Research, Measurement and Research Division, University of Illinois.
Spencer, R. E. (1969). A history of the development of the Illinois Course Evaluation Questionnaire. Research Report No. 306. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois.
Stanley, J. C. (1961). Analysis of unreplicated three-way classifications, with applications to rater bias and trait independence. Psychometrika 26: 205–219.
Stanley, J. C. (1971). Reliability. In R. L. Thorndike (Ed.), Educational Measurement (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education.
Stuit, D. B., and Ebel, R. L. (1952). Instructor rating at a large state university. College and University 27: 247–254.
Tagiuri, R. (1969). Person perception. In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (2nd ed.), Vol. 3. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Tagiuri, R., and Petrullo, L. (Eds.). (1958). Person Perception and Interpersonal Behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Taylor, R. E. (1968). An investigation of the relationship between psychological types in the college classroom and the student perception of the teacher and preferred teaching practices. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland.
Tetenbaum, T. J. (1975). The role of student needs and teacher orientations in student ratings of teachers. American Educational Research Journal 12: 417–429.
Thorndike, R. L. (1949). Personnel Selection: Test and Measurement Techniques. New York: Wiley.
Thorndike, R. L., and Hagen, E. (1969). Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Tinsley, H. E., and Weiss, D. J. (1975). Interrater reliability and agreement of subjective judgments. Journal of Counseling Psychology 22: 358–376.
Touq, M. (1972). The relationship between student participation in classroom discussion and student ratings of instructors at the college level. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.
Touq, M. S., and Feldhusen, J. F. (1973). The relationship between student ratings of instructors and their participation in classroom discussion. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Treffinger, D. J., and Feldhusen, J. F. (1970). Predicting students' ratings of instruction. Proceedings of the 78th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association 5: 621–622.
Tryon, R. C. (1957). Reliability and behavior domain validity: Reformulation and historical critique. Psychological Bulletin 54: 229–249.
Tuckman, B. W., and Orefice, D. S. (1973). Personality structure, instructional outcomes, and instructional preferences, Interchange 4: 43–48.
Turner, R. L., and Thompson, R. P. (1974). Relationships between college student ratings of instructors and residual learning. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Veldman, D. J. (1968). Student evaluation of College of Education courses, fall semester, 1968. Unpublished.
Voeks, V. W. (1962). Publication and teaching effectiveness. Journal of Higher Education 33: 212–218.
Walker, B. D. (1968). An investigation of selected variables relative to the manner in which a population of junior college students evaluate their teachers. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Houston.
Walter, J. E. (1971). Relationships between selected values of students and their perception of a university instructor. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.
Warr, P. B. and Knapper, C. (1968). The Perception of People and Events. New York: Wiley.
Weick, K. E. (1968). Systematic observational methods In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (2nd ed.), Vol. 2. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Weinrauch, J. D., and Matejka, J. K. (1973). Are student ratings of business communication teachers honest feedback? Journal of Business Communication 11: 31–37.
Weinstein, P., and Bramble, W. J. “Student press”: Student course ratings as a function of student variables. Unpublished.
Whitely, S. E., and Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1976). The validity and generalizability of student ratings from between-class and within-class data. Minneapolis, MN: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota.
Whitely, S. E., Doyle, K. O., Jr., and Hopkinson, K. (1973). Student ratings and criteria for effective teaching. Report 731 F. Minneapolis, MN: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota.
Whitlock, L. G. (1972). The dimensions of observer perceptions of teacher performance. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tennessee.
Widlak, F. W., and Quereshi, M. Y. (1972). Student characteristics and instructor ratings: A person-perception approach. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Wiggins, J. S. (1973). Personality and Prediction: Principles of Personality Assessment. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Wilson, D., and Doyle, K. O., Jr. (1976). Student ratings of instruction: Student and instructor sex interactions. Journal of Higher Education 47: 465–470.
Wilson, W. P. (1932). Students rating teachers. Journal of Higher Education 3: 75–82.
Winer, B. J. (1962). Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Yonge, G. D., and Sassenrath, J. M. (1968). Student personality correlates of teacher ratings. Journal of Educational Psychology 59: 44–52.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Feldman, K.A. Consistency and variability among college students in rating their teachers and courses: A review and analysis. Res High Educ 6, 223–274 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00991288
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00991288