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<p>Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) have long been utilized as a means to provide lecturers with feedback on their instructional practices and as a tool for assessing their performance. However, the reliability and validity of SETs are often compromised by low response rates. This study investigates the motivators and barriers influencing SET participation by examining three interventions designed to enhance SETs through a randomized hypothetical scenario experiment with 1,061 undergraduate students in China: (1) offering bonus grades; (2) providing information on how SET results can affect the lecturers' career development and promotion; and (3) alleviating respondent fatigue by reducing survey length to minimize barriers. The findings indicate that offering bonus grades was the most effective strategy in boosting participation, while emphasizing the impact of evaluations on lecturers’ careers also improved participation rates, though to a lesser extent. Shortening the survey showed no significant effect. The heterogeneous effects suggest that non-first-generation college students were more responsive to grade incentives, and lecturers with superior teaching quality received more responses when the potential impact of SET results on their career development was emphasized.</p>

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Motivating student participation in teaching evaluations: evidence from a hypothetical scenario experiment in China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年9月8日

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  • Xiangrui Zheng,
  • Liping Ma

摘要

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) have long been utilized as a means to provide lecturers with feedback on their instructional practices and as a tool for assessing their performance. However, the reliability and validity of SETs are often compromised by low response rates. This study investigates the motivators and barriers influencing SET participation by examining three interventions designed to enhance SETs through a randomized hypothetical scenario experiment with 1,061 undergraduate students in China: (1) offering bonus grades; (2) providing information on how SET results can affect the lecturers' career development and promotion; and (3) alleviating respondent fatigue by reducing survey length to minimize barriers. The findings indicate that offering bonus grades was the most effective strategy in boosting participation, while emphasizing the impact of evaluations on lecturers’ careers also improved participation rates, though to a lesser extent. Shortening the survey showed no significant effect. The heterogeneous effects suggest that non-first-generation college students were more responsive to grade incentives, and lecturers with superior teaching quality received more responses when the potential impact of SET results on their career development was emphasized.