Abstract

Given the prevalent use of the student evaluations of teaching (SET) as a measure of teaching effectiveness, this study aims to investigate the determinants of SET scores among students attending the College of Business Studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Kuwait. A total of 678 SET were analysed using univariate and multiple regression analyses. It was found that SET scores were significantly and positively biased by expected grade, student age and course level. In contrast, class size and faculty experience were found to be significantly and negatively related to SET. Expected grade had the strongest impact on SET scores. The study findings raise concerns about the reliability and validity of the SET as well as their suitability for evaluation purposes. As SET scores have an important assessment function and serve as formative and summative measures in personnel decisions, the incentives for faculty to compromise their grading standards to receive good teaching evaluations increase. Accordingly, administrators should devote more effort to ensure a careful and complete understanding and interpretation of SET if they want to effectively incorporate them into the faculty evaluation process. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore determinants of student evaluations of teaching scores in Kuwait.

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