Making Students' Evaluations of Teaching Effectiveness Effective: The Critical Issues of Validity, Bias, and Utility

This article reviews research indicating that, under appropriate conditions, students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are (a) multidimensional; (b) reliable and stable; (c) primarily a function of the instructor who teaches a course rather than the course that is taught; (d) relatively valid ag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 1997-11, Vol.52 (11), p.1187-1197
Main Authors: Marsh, Herbert W, Roche, Lawrence A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College students
Construct Validity
Evaluation
Higher Education
Human
Multidimensional Approach
Opinion
Psychology
Quality standards
Rating
Ratings
Ratings & rankings
Statistical Bias
Student Characteristics
Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance
Students
Teacher Effectiveness
Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation
Teacher Evaluation
Teaching
Test Bias
Test Validity
U.S.A
Undergraduate students
Validation Verification and Testing Techniques
Validity
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Summary:This article reviews research indicating that, under appropriate conditions, students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are (a) multidimensional; (b) reliable and stable; (c) primarily a function of the instructor who teaches a course rather than the course that is taught; (d) relatively valid against a variety of indicators of effective teaching; (e) relatively unaffected by a variety of variables hypothesized as potential biases (e.g., grading leniency, class size, workload, prior subject interest); and (f) useful in improving teaching effectiveness when SETS are coupled with appropriate consultation. The authors recommend rejecting a narrow criterion-related approach to validity and adopting a broad construct-validation approach, recognizing that effective teaching and SETs that reflect teaching effectiveness are multidimensional; no single criterion of effective teaching is sufficient; and tentative interpretations of relations with validity criteria and potential biases should be evaluated critically in different contexts, in relation to multiple criteria of effective teaching, theory, and existing knowledge.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.52.11.1187