Instructors’ Perceptions of Using Student Ratings for Improving Teaching Quality - Innovative Management in Information and Production - page 97

2 Review of Literature

2.1 Reliability and Validity of Student Ratings

Reliability of student ratings of teaching is defined as consistency across time and
across student rating instruments for an individual faculty member ( Hooper and
Page 1986 ) and related to the accuracy and precision of a measurement procedure.
In comparison with reliability, validity is more complicated and controversial as well
as important. As a common sense of validity, a measurement instrument is valid if
it reflects what it intends to do. For student ratings of teaching is actually measure
teaching effectiveness. If a device of student ratings is valid, that means the positive
correlation of student ratings and teaching effectiveness is high. Researchers have
generally supported the reliability and validity of student ratings even though the
empirical results are not always consistent across studies ( Greenwald 2002 ).

2.2 Using Student Ratings of Teaching for Improving Teaching

The most important purpose of student ratings is improving instructors' teaching
and their courses. Regarding using student ratings of teaching for improving
teaching staffs instruction, many studies have found mixed findings and not being
stable. In a meta-analysis of Cohen ( 1980 , p. 339), he pointed out that “student
ratings are a valuable source for improving instruction at the college level.”
However, some studies reveal to have no such effects. As Ya o a n d G r a d y 's ( 2005 ,
p. 507) citation, Rotem and Glasman ( 1979 ) reported that “feedback from student
ratings does not seem to be effective for the purpose of improving performance of
university teachers.”

2.3 Instructors' Attitudes on Using Student Ratings

Studying attitudes about using student ratings in higher education among faculty
members received diversity picture in terms of rating purposes. Some studies
asserted a more positive outlook of instructors on utilizing student evaluations of
teaching in general ( Beran and Rokosh 2009 ; Schmelkin et al. 1997 ; Beran et al.
2002 , 2005 ). However, there are still negative attitudes on this issue ( Kulik and
McKeachie 1975 ). Basically, instructors tend to approve that student ratings of
teaching is an acceptable means of instructional improvement, but there still exists
skeptical attitude of using student ratings of teaching for summative evaluation
regarding personal decisions.