Showing papers by "National League for Nursing published in 1981"

The generalizability of student ratings of instructors: Item specificity and section effects

Abstract: A number of recent studies have used generalizability theory to examine the dependability of student ratings of instruction. This study extends this line of research by examining the consistency of ratings between different sections of a course taught in a given semester by the same instructor, and by comparing the performance of global- and attribute-type instructor rating items. Five samples of physics instructors, varying in size from 5 to 12 instructors, were rated by their students on a form containing two global and eight attribute items. Each instructor taught two sections of a course. The study found that the section effect was small (ratings of instructors were consistent across different sections of the same course), and that the generalizability of ratings was substantially influenced by item specificity. For summary purposes, one global item seemed sufficient.