Evaluations of College Professors: Effects of Professors' Sex-Type, and Sex, and Students' Sex

Abstract

Over 700 college students evaluated one of eight written profiles of a college professor. The descriptions varied by professors' sex and by professor sex-type (neutral/control, affective, instrumental, androgynous). Profiles were handed out in class to male and female students by regular instructors (experimenters). Professors described as high in affective qualities (the affective and androgynous professors) received the highest ratings on questions related to interactions with students outside of class. Professors' sex-type interacted significantly with students' sex and instructors' sex on these questions as well. The effects of both instrumental and affective qualities of the instructor appear to overshadow the effects of a professor's sex in students' evaluations, at least under certain conditions.

The Impact of Instructional Technology Use, Course Design, and Sex Differences on Students’ Initial Perceptions of Instructor Credibility

“…In terms of student evaluations, there is evidence to suggest that male and female instructors are evaluated differently by male and female students (Basow & Distenfeld, 1985;Basow & Howe, 1987;Basow & Silberg, 1987;Bennett, 1982). For example, Basow and Silberg (1987) found that both male and female students gave female instructors significantly less positive ratings than male instructors on issues related to organization/clarity, instructorÁ/individual student interaction, enthusiasm, and overall teaching ability.…”

Multilevel Analysis of the Effects of Student and Instructor/Course Characteristics on Student Ratings

“…Studies that investigated the effect of instructor's gender on student ratings yielded inconclusive results. Some studies yielded extremely small or no differences between ratings of female and male instructors on the basis of instructor gender alone (e.g., Basow and Howe, 1987;Petchres and Chow, 1988). Tatro (1995), Goldberg and Callahan (1991), and Centra and Gaubatz (2000), on the other hand, reported that female instructors received higher ratings than male instructors, particularly when female students rated female instructors.…”

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).…”