Effect of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth on the evaluation of college instructors.

Abstract

The present, study examined the influence of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth as perceived by students and teachers on teacher evaluation. Male and female instructors in the same department were matched on the level of course taught. A sample of 22 pairs of courses evaluated by 838 students was obtained. Twenty Instructional Improvement Questionnaire items that directly evaluate instructor performance were analyzed using a three-factor analysis of variance and the .0025 level of significance. No interactions between faculty sex, student, sex, and teacher warmth were found. When students rated their instructor's interest and warmth, teachers who wore warmer and primarily interested in students received higher ratings in teaching effectiveness. When teachers rated themselves on warmth and interest, self-ratings interacted with faculty sex. Generally, female teachers received higher effectiveness ratings than did male teachers when they considered themselves low in warmth or interested in course content. Male teachers who rated themselves high in warmth or primarily interested in students received higher ratings than did male teachers who rated themselves low in warmth or primarily interested in course content, respectively.

Impact of rater personality on transformational and transactional leadership ratings

“…With respect to individual differences as potential sources of systematic rating bias, results have generally been null or inconsistent with respect to race (e.g., Pulakos, White, Oppler, & Borman, 1989;Sackett, DuBois, & Noe, 1991), sex (e.g., Elmore & LaPointe, 1975;Martell, 1999;Sackett et al, 1991), age (e.g., Klores, 1996;Mandell, 1956), and education (e.g., Cascio & Valenzi, 1977;Sackett et al, 1991), but there have been calls (e.g., Kane, Bernardin, Villanova, & Peyrefitte, 1995) for a closer examination of personality in leniency biases. Borman and Hallam (1991) found the tendency to be critical to be negatively related to leniency; Bartells and Doverspike (1997) linked sensitivity and warm-heartedness to rating leniency; and Bernardin, Cooke, and Villanova (2000) linked the Big Five personality traits to rating leniency.…”

Guarding Against Potential Bias in Student Evaluations: What Every Faculty Member Needs to Know

“…Student evaluation of instruction instruments have been used in American institutions of higher education since the 1920s (D'Apollonia and Abrami 1997) and have been the subject of numerous studies (Basow 2000;Basow and Howe 1987;Elmore and LaPointe 1974;Harris 1975;Henebry and Diamond 1998;Hobson and Talbot 2001;Kierstead, D'Angostino, and Dill 1988;McKeachie and Lin 1971;Swim et al 1989;Tatro 1995;Tieman and Rankin-Ullock 1985;and Wachtel 1998). Researchers conducting these studies have identified factors that can potentially affect an instructor's evaluations, including time of day of the class (Koushki and Kuhn 1982); student grade point averages (Langbein 1994;Sidanius and Crane 1989); the level of the class being taught (Marsh 1987); the size of the class (Greenwald and Gilmore 1997); and students' interest in the subject matter prior to enrolling in the class (Marsh and Cooper 1981;Marsh and Dunkin 1992).…”

Evaluation of Biology Trainee Teachers’ Effectiveness Using their Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Behaviour

“…Confirmation of such lack of influence of irrelevant variables was shown by Marsh (1977). The sex of the teacher did not affect the results (Elmore & La Pointe, A.K., 1974;Veldman & Peck, 1967;Marsh, 1977). So long as perception instruments do not include factors beyond a teacher's control such as class size, grading system, course difficulty and course requirements (Shingles, 1977) they should prove reliable and valid means of measuring teaching behaviour.…”