Selection Effects in Students’ Evaluation of Teaching

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is an empirically well-established instrument for quality assurance in higher education. Most research shows that SET is a reliable and valid instrument to measure teaching quality from students’ perception and in accordance with Seldins statement one may come to the conclusion, that: ’the opinions of those who eat the dinner should be considered if we want to know how it tastes’ (Seldin 1993: 40). However, in many instances students can select courses they want to attend before the course starts, and even in mandatory courses students can often decide how regularly they attend. …

Studentische Lehrveranstaltungsevaluation

Die studentische Lehrveranstaltungsevaluation (LVE) ist das am weitesten verbreitete Instrument zur Erfassung der Lehrqualität aus studentischer Perspektive. Vor dem Hintergrund des flächendeckenden Einsatzes des Instruments bei gleichzeitig anhaltend starker und weit verbreiteter Kritik gegenüber der studentischen LVE soll der vorliegende Beitrag daher einen …

The Causal Effect of Survey Mode on Students’ Evaluations of Teaching

In recent years many universities switched from paper- to online-based student evaluation of teaching (SET) without knowing the consequences for data quality. Based on a series of three consecutive field experiments — a split-half design, twin courses, and pre–post-measurements—this paper examines the effects of survey mode on SET. First, all three studies reveal …

Selection Bias in Students’ Evaluation of Teaching

Systematic sampling error due to self-selection is a common topic in methodological research and a key challenge for every empirical study. Since selection bias is often not sufficiently considered as a potential flaw in research on and evaluations in higher education, the aim of this paper is to raise awareness for the topic using the case of students’ evaluations of teaching (SET). First, we …