Sex Differences in Student Response to College Teachers: Teacher Warmth and Teacher Sex

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

“…If circumstances such as these arise, the faculty member should record the basis for such student concerns for others reviewing the evaluations. As McKeachie (1997) points out, "To make sure that contextual variables influencing ratings are taken into account, personnel committees should consider teachers' own statements about the goals they were trying to achieve, how they went about achieving them, and the contextual conditions that might have influenced success" (1222).…”

“…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).…”

Student ratings of instruction in a community college : effects of student and faculty ethnicity

“…In many studies, no gender bias has been found (Ahmadi, 1981;Cashin, 1988;Kocher, 1983;Yamamoto & Dizney, 1966), although female teachers sometimes are rated higher than male teachers by students of both sexes on a global rating, but only if described as highly competent andjor warm (McKeachie & Lin, 1971;Bennett, 1982). However, as mentioned above, several studies indicate that male professors often appear to have an advantage over female insructors in reference to student ratings (Unger, 1975;Basow & Silberg, 1987;Rosenfeld & Jarrard, 1985).…”

“…Additionally, McKeachie and Lin (1971) found that high teacher warmth (taking a personal interest in students, calling students by name, being friendly) in male teachers "resulted in relatively high achievement for women students but not for men". For female teachers, "high warmth teachers seem to be more effective with both sexes of students than teachers with low warmth.…”