Predictors of college student ratings of faculty

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of student, course and administrative characteristics to student evaluations of college faculty. The student predictor variables were desire to take the course, whether the course was a prerequisite, required and/or in the student's major and expected grade. The course predictor variables were student status, workload, and academic field. Anonymity, faculty presence and purpose of the evaluation were the administrative predictor variables. The study involved 433 graduate and undergraduate students and their evaluations of college faculty. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that there was a significant relationship among all the predictor variables and the criterion variable of faculty rating (R^2 =.253, F(16,381) = 8.06, p <.001). The scores that were significantly (p <.01) related with faculty rating were academic field or school (r =.384), anonymity (r =.133), desire to take the course (r =.326) and expected grade (r =.164). The implications for staff development are discussed. Also suggested is the development of a residual model for faculty evaluation. The administrative implications for using this model are discussed. Recommendations for future sampling techniques are listed.