Student evaluations of teaching: unidimensionality, subjectivity, and biases

This work contributes to the literature raising concerns with the use of SET (student teaching evaluation) scores to evaluate teaching effectiveness and to motivate or demotivate faculty tenure and promotion decisions. It shows that the non-deterministic and qualitative nature of the SETs controverts their analysis and interpretation. It also reinforces empirical evidence that the SET usage introduces multiple biases related to professor, course, and class characteristics and facilitates grade inflation. This study exploits a large data set coming from an American research university.