Abstract
Both the available experimental evidence and recent reviews are unclear regarding the effectiveness of student ratings feedback for instructional improvement. Provision of feedback has not consistently produced improvement. Feedback accompanied by consultation has resulted in more consistent instructor improvement. However, the literature on interventions for instructional improvements has failed to address the longitudinal nature of improvement and development. The present study examined follow-up data over a ten-year period on instructors who had participated in a quasi-experimental study of the effectiveness of consultation and feedback conducted in 1971 and 1972. The results obtained indicate that instructors who had originally received feedback with consultation maintained higher student ratings and used instructional resources more during follow-up than instructors who originally received feedback only. This result must be tempered by several interpretative considerations regarding sample size, power, and experimental control. A number of concerns were also expressed regarding the adequacy of the current literature for describing a developmental event, instructional improvement, through the use of short-term studies. Recommendations are made for increased durations of study and alternative tactics of experimental design and control.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aleamoni, L. M. (1978). “The usefulness of student evaluations in improving college teaching,” Instructional Science 7: 95–105.
Aleamoni, L. M. (1979). “Arizona course/instructor evaluation questionnaire (CIEQ): Results interpretation manual, form 76,” Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona, Office of Instructional Research and Development.
Aleamoni, L. M. (1980). “The use of student evaluations in the improvement of instruction,” National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture 24(3): 18–21.
Aleamoni, L. M. and Spencer, R. E. (1973). “The Illinois course evaluation questionnaire: A description of its development and a report of some of its results,” Educational and Psychological Measurement 33: 669–684.
Bergin, A. E. and Strupp, H. H. (1972). Changing Frontiers in the Science of Psychotherapy. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Brandenburg, D. C. and Aleamoni, L. M. (1976). “Illinois course evaluation questionnaire: Results interpretation manual, form 73,” Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois, Measurement and Research Division, Office of Instructional Resources.
Centra, J. A. (1979). Determining Faculty Effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cohen, P. A. (1980). “Effectiveness of student-rating feedback for improving college instruction: A meta-analysis of findings,” Research in Higher Education 13: 321–341.
Cohen, P. A. (1981). “Student ratings of instruction and student achievement: A meta-analysis of multisection validity studies,” Review of Educational Research 51: 281–309.
Cook, T. D. and Campbell, D. T. (1979). Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Boston: Houghton Miffin Co.
Hersen, M. and Barlow, D. H. (1976). Single Case Experimental Designs: Strategies for Studying Behavior Change in the Individual. New York: Pergamon Press.
Kratochwill, T. R. (1978). Single Subject Research: Strategies for Evaluating Change. New York: Academic Press.
Kulik, J. A. and Kulik, C.-L. C. (1974). “Student ratings of instruction,” Teaching of Psychology 1: 51–57.
Kulik, J. A. and McKeachie, W. J. (1975). “The evaluation of teachers in higher education,” Review of Research in Education 3: 210–240.
Levinson-Rose, J. and Menges, R. J. (1981). “Improving college teaching: A critical review of research,” Review of Educational Research 51: 403–434.
Marsh, H. W. (1980). “Research on students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness: A reply to Vecchio,” Instructional Evaluation 4: 5–13.
McKeachie, W. J. (1979). “Student ratings of faculty: A reprise,” Academe 65: 384–397.
Millman, J. (Ed.) (1981). Handbook of Teacher Evaluation. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.
Overall, J. V. and Marsh, H. W. (1979). “Midterm feedback from students: Its relationship to instructional improvement and students' cognitive and affective outcomes,” Journal of Educational Psychology 71: 856–865.
Rosenthal, R. and Gaito, J. (1963). “The interpretation of levels of significance by psychological researchers,” The Journal of Psychology 55: 33–38.
Rotem, A. and Glasman, N. S. (1979). “On the effectiveness of students' evaluative feedback to university instructors,” Review of Educational Research 49: 497–511.
Stevens, J. P. (1980). “Power of the multivariate analysis of variance tests,” Psychological Bulletin 88: 728–737.
Weisberg, H. I. (1979). “Statistical adjustments and uncontrolled studies,” Psychological Bulletin 86: 1149–1164.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stevens, J.J., Aleamoni, L.M. The use of evaluative feedback for instructional improvement: A longitudinal perspective. Instr Sci 13, 285–304 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117573
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117573