From the publisher
Student ratings of instruction (SRI) is one of the most controversial teaching-related issues in institutions of higher education. Faculty and administrators have engaged in extensive debates on countless concerns, beliefs, myths, reservations, and misconceptions regarding potential biasing factors affecting SRI. Despite the solid research evidence countering most faculty misconceptions and beliefs, they continue to persist and spread. Every year, many new publications claim to prove that SRIs are unreliable and invalid, leading faculty and administrators to question student ratings' overall reliability and validity, and the appropriateness of using them to guide personnel decisions.For these reasons, in the past few decades, SRI has been one of the most frequently researched and discussed issues in American educational literature. This book incorporates findings and conclusions from the extensive research and publications on student ratings to date. It presents an array of concerns, beliefs, misconceptions, and myths regarding potential biasing factors affecting SRIs that have been reported over the years, as well as solidly established research evidence refuting them.This book is designed for academic faculty members who are frustrated, disappointed, angered, or distrustful of their ratings by their students. It is designed to respond to their concerns, to inform them regarding proper SRI interpretations, and to guide them in applying SRI results to improve their instruction and ratings. It also serves academic administrators-deans, heads of schools, and department chairs-who are involved in personnel decision-making, to help them base their decisions on reliable and valid interpretations of student rating results, and to ground them with proper knowledge for responding to faculty members' complaints about, and objections to, student ratings. Yet another audience of this book is faculty in teaching centers, who are also frequently faced with academic faculty frustrations, anger, and mistrust of SRI.To facilitate reading, the issues are presented succinctly and simply, and are usually enhanced by research-grounded tables and graphics, providing simple illustrations of many of the issues involved, to render them intuitive and to enhance comprehension.The book incorporates the scholarship of a wide range of researchers and practitioners, including the author's own accumulated knowledge and experience throughout over 30 years of research and practice in this domain. It provides a comprehensive overview of the main theoretical and practical issues related to SRIs in higher education. The book is an enhanced and updated version of the book: Hativa (2014), Student Ratings of Instruction: Recognizing Effective Teaching, 2nd Edition, and it complements another book: Hativa (2014), Student Ratings of Instruction: A Practical Approach to Designing, Operating, and Reporting, 2nd Edition. Nonetheless, it can be read independently of the latter book. The two books jointly constitute a thorough overview of the main theoretical and practical issues related to SRIs in higher education.
