An Investigation into the Validity of Student Evaluations of Teaching in Accounting Education

Abstract

Although there exists considerable dissent, the majority view among higher education professionals is that student evaluations of teaching are valid on the basis of a considerable body of research showing a positive correlation between student evaluations of faculty and objective measures of student achievement. The single most serious caveat concerning this evidence is that this correlation may be an associative relationship (rather than a causative relationship) generated by underlying variables such as student ability and interest in the subject matter. It seems plausible that capable students with a high level of interest in the subject matter will both do better on examinations, and take a more favorable view of the efforts of their instructors. Much of the cited research showing a positive correlation between student evaluations and student achievement either fails to control for student ability/interest at all, or controls for it by means which may be inadequate (such as random assignment of students to classes). The present research examines the relationship between student achievement (as measured by the grade which the student earned in Intermediate Accounting I) and student evaluations (as measured by the mean class evaluation of the student’s instructor in Introductory Accounting II), controlling for ability with three variables: grade which the student earned in Introductory Accounting II, student’s Grade Point Average, and student’s ACT score. Controlling for ability, a statistically significant negative relationship is found between student evaluations and student achievement. This research therefore strengthens concerns of some faculty that the widespread and significant application of student evaluations of teaching in faculty performance evaluation may be partially responsible for the interrelated phenomena of grade inflation and content debasement.