The effects of incentives, instructor motivation and feedback strategies on faculty evaluation response rates in large and small class sizes

Abstract

Four instructor-led strategies designed to increase faculty teaching response rates were assessed across both small (n < 50) and large (n ≥ 50) class sizes. The interventions included: (a) individual incentives, (b) group incentives, (c) instructor motivation and (d) instructor motivation plus feedback. A comparison group utilizing the standard university strategies was also included in the study. The percentage of answers to open-ended or qualitative questions was measured across groups. The results show that implementing a contingency – whether group or individual – significantly improves the rate at which students complete course evaluation ratings regardless of class size; however, these contingencies, while effective for increasing overall rating response rate, do not promote increased submission rates of qualitative comments. Furthermore, it was found that class GPA did not differ across intervention strategy nor did it influence response rates.

KEYWORDS:

• Student evaluation of teaching
• response rates
• incentives
• online evaluations
• higher education

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff at Queens College’s Center for Teaching and Learning, especially Eva Fernández, Michelle Fraboni, and Rachel Stern – without their input and guidance, much of this research would have been impossible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alicia M. Alvero

Alicia M. Alvero is a Professor at Queens College, CUNY who applies her skills as a training, leadership, and performance management consultant to help strengthen the experiences of faculty, staff, and students within higher education.

Kathleen Mangiapanello

Kathleen Mangiapanello is a Lecturer at Queens College, City University of New York. She has nearly 20 years of teaching experience at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to teaching, she conducts workshops to train graduate students wishing to serve as adjunct instructors in undergraduate courses.

Jennifer Valad

Jennifer Valad is Director of Learning Collectives for HSI-STEM: Bridges Across Eastern Queens, a 5-year, Department of Education funded grant focused on improving the STEM education of minority students at Queens College and Queens borough Community College. In addition, she has been an adjunct for 8 years, teaching a variety of courses in psychology. She also works with the Center for Teaching and Learning at Queens College on projects to help improve student learning.