Is my opinion important in evaluating lecturers? Students’ perceptions of student evaluations of teaching (SET) and their relationship to SET scores

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have identified a positive relationship between students’ perceptions of student evaluations of teaching (SET) and the grades that students provide in SET, controlling for other bias factors. The research by Spooren and Christiaens in 2017 at the University of Antwerp supported this finding. In this study, the methodology used by Spooren and Christiaens was replicated at the Technological Indoamerica University in Ecuador, in a close conceptual replication. In the replicated study, 967 undergraduate participants answered the questionnaires used by the original authors. The replication study sample was very similar in size, seniority, and gender to the original study but not in academic disciplines studied. Most of the students agreed that the evaluation was relevant and could improve teaching practices. Results show a statistically significant but small positive relation among perceptions of SET and SET scores (0.20 for the Belgian university and 0.27 for the Ecuadorian university).

KEYWORDS:

• Student evaluations of teaching
• student perception
• higher education
• structural equation modelling
• replication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Noemí Suárez Monzón

Noemí Suárez Monzón is an associate researcher in the Human Sciences, Education and Social Development Faculty at Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica in Ambato, Ecuador, and she is currently the director of the Postgraduate Department at Universidad Iberoamericana del Ecuador. She has published in a range of research areas including university lecturers’ evaluation, participatory approaches in lecturer evaluation, and digital transformation of educational practices.

Vanessa Gómez Suárez

Vanessa Gómez Suárez is currently a lecturer in the Postgraduate Direction Department at Universidad de Otavalo in Ecuador. Her research interests include social factors which repercuss on educational practices such as the lecturers’ evaluation and the relationships between different agents in educational institutions.

Diego Gudberto Lara Paredes

Diego Gudberto Lara Paredes is the director of the Academic Management Department at Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica in Ambato, Ecuador. His research interests include management and teacher training, as well as endogenous development of universities.