Landis & Pirro, 1977

Landis, L. M. & Pirro, E. B. (1977). Required/elective student differences in course evaluations. Teaching Political Science, 4, 405-422.

Should laboratory instructors be judged by the same measures as lecturers or field experiences?

Structural variables that might operate to promote differential perceptions.

In college, courses are populated by students fulfilling a requirement and freely choosing as elective.

This was an evaluation study at one university, over 16 courses, 444 responses, in spring and summer sessions. % required students varied from 13.3 to 100.

Variables included student perceptions of clarity of objectives, organization of course, professor's knowledge, range of interest, classroom technique, clarity of assignments, ability to interest students, professor skills, mannerisms and willingness to help, fairness in grading, attention to student product, recognition of limitations, clarity of speech, overall estimate of professor, of course. 14 of 16 factors showed that the elective higher score differences above required courses were statistically significance and beyond random chance.