Student Ratings of Individualized Faculty Supervision: Description and Evaluation

Abstract

Faculty supervision in individualized, research-oriented learning experiences was described and evaluated through a 51-item questionnaire completed by 125 graduate students in psychology. A principle axes analysis of their responses yielded 10 first-order and 2 second-order factors from the 42 items which focused on descriptive aspects of the supervision. Two additional first-order factors were derived from a similar analysis of 9 items which referred to aspects of student satisfaction with the experience and supervision. Scores for the 10 descriptive dimensions accounted for 70% of the variance in supervisor evaluation ratings and 30% of the variance in ratings of the experience. The importance of supervisor involvement in the individualized learning experience was noted.