Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.
","abstract_html":"<p>Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stewart, Tyesha De’Shuan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Human Services","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Luis Aguerrevere","Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Elaine Turner"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z","subjects":["course evaluations","standard deviation","faculty gender","faculty race","faculty year of terminal degree","student gender representation in class","student race representation in class","total enrollment","course level","grading patterns","Academic Advising","Curriculum and Instruction","Education Policy","Gender and Sexuality","Higher Education Administration","Higher Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Race and Ethnicity","Scholarship of Teaching and Learning","School Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/470","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Luis Aguerrevere","Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Elaine Turner"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stewart, Tyesha De’Shuan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-12-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Services"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["course evaluations","standard deviation","faculty gender","faculty race","faculty year of terminal degree","student gender representation in class","student race representation in class","total enrollment","course level","grading patterns","Academic Advising","Curriculum and Instruction","Education Policy","Gender and Sexuality","Higher Education Administration","Higher Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Race and Ethnicity","Scholarship of Teaching and Learning","School Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/470"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["University Course Evaluations: A Study of the Influence of Faculty, Student, and Course Variables"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Luis Aguerrevere","Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Elaine Turner"],"dc:creator":["Stewart, Tyesha De’Shuan"],"dc:date.available":["2020-12-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/470"],"dc:subject":["course evaluations","standard deviation","faculty gender","faculty race","faculty year of terminal degree","student gender representation in class","student race representation in class","total enrollment","course level","grading patterns","Academic Advising","Curriculum and Instruction","Education Policy","Gender and Sexuality","Higher Education Administration","Higher Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Race and Ethnicity","Scholarship of Teaching and Learning","School Psychology"],"dc:title":["University Course Evaluations: A Study of the Influence of Faculty, Student, and Course Variables"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Human Services"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z"}