IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/easeco/v35y2009i1p37-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Determines Student Evaluation Scores? A Random Effects Analysis of Undergraduate Economics Classes

Author

Listed:
  • Michael A McPherson

    (Department of Economics, University of North Texas, PO Box 311457, Denton, TX 76203-1457, USA)

  • R Todd Jewell

    (Department of Economics, University of North Texas, PO Box 311457, Denton, TX 76203-1457, USA)

  • Myungsup Kim

    (Department of Economics, University of North Texas, PO Box 311457, Denton, TX 76203-1457, USA)

Abstract

Student evaluation scores are a standard component of the way colleges and universities assess the quality of an instructor's teaching for purposes of promotion and tenure, as well as merit raise allocations. This paper applies a feasible generalized least squares model to a panel of data from undergraduate economics classes. We find that instructors can “buy” better evaluation scores by inflating students’ grade expectations. Class size and instructor experience are important determinants of evaluation scores in principles classes, but not in upper-level courses. Male instructors get better scores than females, and younger instructors are more popular than older ones. Certain other factors are also important determinants of evaluation scores. Our results suggest that an adjustment to the usual departmental rankings may be useful. Eastern Economic Journal (2009) 35, 37–51. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eej.9050042

Suggested Citation

  • Michael A McPherson & R Todd Jewell & Myungsup Kim, 2009. "What Determines Student Evaluation Scores? A Random Effects Analysis of Undergraduate Economics Classes," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 37-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:35:y:2009:i:1:p:37-51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/eej/journal/v35/n1/pdf/9050042a.pdf
    File Function: Link to full text PDF
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/eej/journal/v35/n1/full/9050042a.html
    File Function: Link to full text HTML
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:zbw:rwirep:0275 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Palali, Ali & van Elk, Roel & Bolhaar, Jonneke & Rud, Iryna, 2018. "Are good researchers also good teachers? The relationship between research quality and teaching quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 40-49.
    3. Berezvai, Zombor & Lukáts, Gergely Dániel & Molontay, Roland, 2019. "A pénzügyi ösztönzők hatása az egyetemi oktatók osztályozási gyakorlatára [How financially rewarding student evaluation may affect grading behaviour. Evidence from a natural experiment]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 733-750.
    4. Bredtmann, Julia & Crede, Carsten J. & Otten, Sebastian, 2013. "Methods for evaluating educational programs: Does Writing Center Participation affect student achievement?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 115-123.
    5. Ali Palali & Roel van Elk & Jonneke Bolhaar & Iryna Rud, 2017. "Are good researchers also good teachers? The relationship between research quality and teaching quality," CPB Discussion Paper 347.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Maarten Goos & Anna Salomons, 2017. "Measuring teaching quality in higher education: assessing selection bias in course evaluations," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 58(4), pages 341-364, June.
    7. Brandon Genetin & Joyce Chen & Vladimir Kogan & Alan Kalish, 2022. "Mitigating implicit bias in student evaluations: A randomized intervention," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 110-128, March.
    8. Joonmo Cho & Wonyoung Baek, 2019. "Identifying Factors Affecting the Quality of Teaching in Basic Science Education: Physics, Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Chemistry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Anna Salomons & Maarten Goos, 2014. "Measuring Teaching Quality in Higher Education: Assessing the Problem of Selection Bias in Course Evaluations," Working Papers 14-16, Utrecht School of Economics.
    10. John Robst & Jennifer VanGilder, 2016. "The relationship between faculty characteristics and the use of norm- and criteria-based grading," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1127746-112, December.
    11. Oana Eugenia & Gogu Emilia & Roman Monica & Marin Erika, 2022. "Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of the Economics Higher Education in Romania," Journal of Social and Economic Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 11(1-2), pages 14-35, December.
    12. Lütkenhöner, Laura, 2013. "Können sich Hochschuldozenten bessere studentische Lehrevaluationen "erkaufen"?," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 7/2013, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    13. Chandini Sankaran & Tamara Sheldon, 2022. "Counting Cars: A Sustainable Development Experiential Learning Project," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 7(1), pages 18-34, January.
    14. R. Todd Jewell & Michael A. McPherson & Margie A. Tieslau, 2013. "Whose fault is it? Assigning blame for grade inflation in higher education," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 1185-1200, March.
    15. Bredtmann, Julia & Crede, Carsten J. & Otten, Sebastian, 2013. "Methods for evaluating educational programs: Does Writing Center Participation affect student achievement?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 115-123.
    16. Donghun Cho & Joonmo Cho, 2017. "Does More Accurate Knowledge of Course Grade Impact Teaching Evaluation?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(2), pages 224-240, Spring.
    17. Robert L. Moore & Hanna Song & James D. Whitney, 2021. "Do Students Discriminate? Exploring Differentials by Race and Sex in Class Enrollments and Student Ratings of Instructors," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 135-162, January.
    18. Isabella Sulis & Mariano Porcu & Vincenza Capursi, 2019. "On the Use of Student Evaluation of Teaching: A Longitudinal Analysis Combining Measurement Issues and Implications of the Exercise," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 1305-1331, April.
    19. Cannon, Edmund & Cipriani, Giam Pietro, 2021. "Gender Differences in Student Evaluations of Teaching: Identification and Consequences," IZA Discussion Papers 14387, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:35:y:2009:i:1:p:37-51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.