Faculty Level of Self-Actualization in Relation to Student Rating of Instructors

Abstract

In an effort to determine why students rated instructors differently, 70 of 150 randomly selected university professors completed the Personality Orientation Inventory (POI) (Shostrom, 1968). Previously the total faculty had been rated by the student body on the University Student Survey of Instruction Questionnaire (SSIQ) (Faculty Council, 1975). The literature has revealed statistically significant relationships between teacher/counselor ratings and measures of personality. The 12 POI scales were correlated with a five-point Likert-type rating of overall instructor evaluation from the SSIQ. Two correlations were found to be significant beyond the .05 level (n = 70). The relationship between instructor rating and Time Competence Scale was positive (r = .235), whereas that between the instructor rating and the Nature of Man scale was negative (r = -.235). The results are discussed in terms of student perceptions of instructional procedures. It was suggested that the presence of highly organized instructional patterns might explain in part the occurrence of a positive relationship between the student ratings of instructors and their standing on the Time Competence Scale.