ERIC Number: EJ1186845
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Sep
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 23
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0361-0365
Improving SET Response Rates: Synchronous Online Administration as a Tool to Improve Evaluation Quality
Standish, Trey; Joines, Jeff A.; Young, Karen R.; Gallagher, Victoria J.
Research in Higher Education, v59 n6 p812-823 Sep 2018
Institutions of higher education continue to migrate student evaluations of teaching (SET) from traditional, in-class paper forms to online SETs. Online SETs would favorably compare to paper-and-pencil evaluations were it not for widely reported response rate decreases that cause SET validity concerns stemming from possible nonresponse bias. To combat low response rates, one institution introduced a SET application for mobile devices and piloted formal synchronous classroom time for SET completion. This paper uses the Leverage Salience Theory to estimate the impact of these SET process changes on overall response rates, open-ended question response rates, and open end response word counts. Synchronous class time best improves SET responses when faculty encourage completion on keyboarded devices and provide students SET completion time in the first 15 min of a class meeting. Full support from administrators requires sufficient wireless signal strength, IT infrastructure, and assuring student access to devices for responses clustering around meeting times.
Descriptors: Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance, Response Rates (Questionnaires), Handheld Devices, Computer Mediated Communication, Synchronous Communication, Course Evaluation, College Students
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A

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