Do Alumni Change Their Minds Regarding Student Evaluations of Teachers? On the Time Stability of Student Evaluations

26 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2014

See all articles by Simone Juhasz Silva

Simone Juhasz Silva

Department of Economics and Finance, Murray State University

Mary-Tripp Reed

Murray State University - College of Business

Natalie Doering

Murray State University

Date Written: May 28, 2013

Abstract

While the effectiveness and validity of student evaluations of teaching (SETs) has been discussed in the literature for decades, there is little consensus. This paper contributes to the discussion by collecting data regarding SETs from former Murray State University students. Specifically, respondents were asked to score the importance of different attributes, such as quality of teaching and expected grade, when completing the evaluations in college (college scores), and how would they score these same attributes if they were completing the evaluations now (current scores). The difference between the college scores and the current scores are statistically different from zero for most attributes and categorical variable models are used to estimate the determinants of these differences. Students were also asked if they would change the evaluations of the professors of the classes in which they studied the most, studied the least, enjoyed the most, and learned the most. The past students would, on average, give higher evaluations to all classes but the one in which they studied the least. Using econometric estimations, we were able to determine which students’ and instructors’ characteristics were the main determinants of the mentioned changes in student evaluations of teachers.

JEL Classification: M20

Suggested Citation

Silva, Simone and Reed, Mary-Tripp and Doering, Natalie, Do Alumni Change Their Minds Regarding Student Evaluations of Teachers? On the Time Stability of Student Evaluations (May 28, 2013). Academy of Business Research Journal, Vol. I, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2519614

Simone Silva

Department of Economics and Finance, Murray State University ( email )

Murray, KY 42071-0009
United States

Mary-Tripp Reed (Contact Author)

Murray State University - College of Business ( email )

351 Business Building
Murray, KY 42071-3314
United States

Natalie Doering

Murray State University ( email )

Murray, KY 42071-0009
United States

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