Using Multiple Measures in the Interpretation of Student Ratings of Instruction

Abstract

This study investigated a multiple measurement approach to validating the inter pretation of student ratings of a medical school course. Concerns of priority to students were isolated from the ratings and data on student opinion collected by an open-ended question and student faculty documents. An interpretation consonant with all data was derived. Influences on student opinion, including demographic, academic, and personal characteristics of students, teaching practices, and the instructional context were explored through a comparison of the present class with a previous class. Ratings of the course by the two classes differed in the absence of significant differences in the students or teaching practices. Divergences in the ratings were attributed to changes in the instruc tional context reported in the multiple measures of student opinion. It was concluded that a multiple measurement approach allows greater precision in the interpretation of student opinion than is afforded by ratings alone.