Effects of Instructor/Course Evaluations on Student Course Selection.

Instructor/course evaluations had an impact on student election of courses as shown by the frequency with which students elected differentially rated classes. Prior to registration students were given reports on student evaluations of political science courses. A comparable group of students did not receive the ratings. The course rated most highly was elected more frequently by those with access to ratings despite the fact that it was also rated as requiring more work. Instructor/course evaluations are beingused for instructor self-improvement, for administrative decisions, and to provide a criterion for research on teaching. A fourth use is also common: using evaluations to enable students to make better choices of courses and teachers from whom they can learn. Research on this use is lacking. Although no experimental evidence has been obtained, several studies are relevant. Leventhal, Abrami, Perry, and Breen (1975) found that students report that faculty reputation influences their elections. Bejar and Doyle (1976) showed that student expectations of a professor unknown to them before a course had little effect on their ratings of instructors, whereas Leventhal, Abrami, and Perry (1976) and Centra and Creech (1976) found that students who chose a course because of the excellent reputation of the instructor gave higher ratings than students who chose a course for other reasons. Borgida and Nisbett (1977) found that statistical information from student ratings had little impact on course choices but that brief face-to-face comments had considerable effect. The argument that students need and will use student rating information in choosing courses thus seems plausible but is still not demonstrated empirically.