Discriminant Analysis of Student Ratings as a Means for Identifying Lecturers who Differ in Enthusiasm or Information-Giving

Abstract

This investigation employed discriminant analysis to improve the usefulness of student-faculty ratings in detecting differences in lecturer types. Equivalent groups of college students in each of two studies viewed lectures delivered by a Hollywood actor so as to vary in number of substantive teaching points covered (high, low) and presentation manner (enthusiastic, unenthusiastic). Students rated lecturer effectiveness using an 18-item questionnaire like those commonly used. Optimal scoring methods were derived in the first study for the purpose of differentiating among lecturer types and were cross-validated in a second study of groups of students who saw and rated the same lectures. Scoring methods derived in the first study were valid in relation to differences in lecturer enthusiasm in the first and second studies and were valid in relation to differences in information-giving in the first but not in the second study. Results were explained in terms of the "Doctor Fox Effect" and suggestions were offered for future research.

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