Uses and misuses of student opinion surveys in eight Australian universities

Student opinion surveys (SOSs) are commonly used in universities to measure student perceptions of teaching performance. Ostensibly their prime purpose is to improve teaching quality. This paper critically examines SOSs in eight Australian universities where survey design and analysis were examined and compared with literature recommendations. We find that current SOSs are neither designed nor structured according to sound questionnaire technique and that, as part of a teaching evaluation system, they are seriously flawed. Deficiencies include: their use as the sole measure of teaching effectiveness, the tendency for universities to rely on unmoderated student opinion without tempering the results with contextual factors, and a lack of testing for reliability and validity that renders the data of unknown precision. We argue that, at present, SOSs expose teachers to unreliable, invalid opinions that influence teacher career advancement and job security.