Using Deductions from Assessment Studies towards Furtherance of the Academic Program: An Empirical Appraisal of Institutional Student Course Evaluation

Abstract

The regular evaluation of ongoing activities under academic programs is required evidence towards academic development. Indeed, such evaluations generally involve data collection on a Likert type item as one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). While using arithmetic mean in item by item analysis to derive inferences, as adopted by the National Commission for Assessment and Academic Accreditation (NCAAA), two issues occurred to us, its accuracy as well as usefulness. We took initiatives to also use more appropriate and useful measures to deal with the ordinal scale involved in such data. Surprisingly, a review showed a mixed practice. This article aims to describe and advocate the need of focusing more on such appropriate practices. Such practice extends many-fold benefits: (i) theoretical appropriateness, (ii) accuracy in results and related inferences, (iii) ease of understanding, (iv) useful clues regarding academic improvements, and (v) optimum use of allocated resources

On the Contribution of Student Experience Survey Regarding Quality Management in Higher Education: An Institutional Study in Saudi Arabia

“…A Likert type item is on an ordinal scale. Concerning item by item analysis, we have already communicated fully on the evaluation of such analyses [20]. Thus, I used the measure adopted by NCAAA, and, three other measures which are more appropriate and offer prob-lem-solving potential [21].…”

“…Thus, I used the measure adopted by NCAAA, and, three other measures which are more appropriate and offer prob-lem-solving potential [21]. To facilitate reference, I briefly re-iterate here the four measures used [20,22].…”

“…A third appropriate measure used here is cumulative % of students with score 4 or 5. We have argued that this measure has at least four attributes [20,22]. It is straight forward, easy to understand and to use by the colleges and university level administrators.…”

Differential Item Functioning in Students Rating of Teaching Effectiveness Surveys in Higher Education According to Academic Disciplines: Data from a Saudi University

“…CES contains 14 five point-Likert Scale items divided into two subscales (instructor and course related items), and it is approved by Imam Abudalruman Bin Faisal University and adopted by Saudi National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) for accreditation purposes. CES was developed by a panel of experts in related areas, and several studies investigated its psychometric properties and usefulness (Al Rubaish, Wosornu, & Dwivedi, 2012;Al Rubaish, Wosornu, & Dwivedi, 2011;AlKuwaiti & Maruthamuthu, 2014). Additionally, Corrected-Item-To-Total Correlation and Cronbach's Alpha were calculated from a random sample (n=50) selected from the current data.…”

A Comparative Appraisal of Timings for Program Evaluation Survey and Related Institutional Results in Saudi Arabia: Quality Management in Higher Education

“…The methods appropriate in item by item analysis of evaluation data on an ordinal scale [21] are the same as those documented by Rubaish et al [22] and used by Rubaish [2]. However, to report analytical methods used on PES data, each of the four measures used in item by item analysis and respective performance grading criteria [2,22] are again reproduced below (see the bottom):…”