The Effects of Varying Information About Use and Disposition of Results on University Students’ Evaluations of Faculty and Courses

Abstract

Eight different types of instruction sheets were attached to Faculty-Course Questionnaires (FCQs) and randomly distributed to students within 92 University of Colorado courses (stratified by course level and class size). Instructions differed in the information conveyed about use and disposition of FCQ results. Treatment conditions were: (1) informing students of the use of student ratings for administrative decisions about promotion, tenure, or salary increases; (2) informing students of the use of student ratings by professors to make course improvements; (3) informing students that professors eventually receive all the FCQs as originally written. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance showed the instructions containing information about the administrative use, or the course improvement use, or both uses and disposition to produce ratings higher than those given by students not provided with that information. Interactions involving class size, course level, and the treatment variables were significant for several of the dependent variables, but there was no consistent pattern of differences for classes of various sizes and levels.