Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/224007 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13565
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) are subjective measures of student satisfaction that are often used to assess teaching quality. In this paper, we show that heterogeneity in students' reporting styles challenges SET validity. Using administrative data that allow us to track all evaluations produced by each student, we are able to isolate student-specific reporting scales. We show that reporting heterogeneity explains at least one third of the within-course variation in SET.We also document that students sort across elective courses according to their reporting style. As a result, the average evaluation of two otherwise identical electives can differ only because of heterogeneity in the reporting style of students attending them. Using a simulation exercise, we show that this type of sorting coupled with large sampling variability severely alter the ranking of courses within a major, calling into question the use of SET to incentivise teachers.
Subjects: 
student evaluations of teaching
reporting heterogeneity
selection
JEL: 
I23
I28
D63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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