Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness: Catharsis Makes a Difference

Summary

College students (N = 1088) were enrolled in three different courses (three sections of each) reflecting introductory, intermediate, and advanced work in one field. Sections varied in size but at each level were taught by the same instructor. Students were randomly assigned to three types of course evaluation procedures: objective, objective/open-end, and open-end/objective. For all items on the objective instrument, a main effect of evaluative procedure was found. Students receiving the objective after the open-end held the most favorable attitudes about a course. Students answering the open-end after the objective held more positive attitudes than those receiving just the objective, thus lending support to the proposed catharsis hypothesis.