No pain, no gain? The importance of measuring course workload in student ratings of instruction

Samples of about 200 undergraduate courses were investigated in each of 3 consecutive academic terms. Course survey forms assessed evaluative ratings, expected grades, and course workloads. A covariance structure model was developed in exploratory fashion for the Ist term's data, and then successfully cross-validated in each of the next 2 terms. The 2 major features of the successful model were that (a) courses that gave higher grades were better liked (a positive path from expected grades to evaluative ratings), and (b) courses that gave higher grades had lighter workloads (a negative relation between expected grades and workload). These findings support the conclusion that instructors' grading leniency influences ratings. This effect of grading leniency also importantly qualifies the standard interpretation that student ratings are relatively pure indicators of instructional quality.