Validating lecturer effectiveness questionnaires in accounting

Abstract

The use of student questionnaires to evaluate lecturers in higher education raises the issue of the validity of any measures that might be developed from the results. This paper reports on a lecturer effectiveness questionnaire (LEQ) given to students of accounting courses at Salford University. The main finding is that effectiveness scores are related to student views on important attributes of lecturing (eg. explanation of aims and objectives, choice of teaching aids, creating an interest in the course); but that the scores are also related to less desirable feaures such as lecture size and subject matter. The study also examines the relationship between examinations marks and questionnaire scores on the grounds that students should perform better in examinations for courses where the lecturer is considered to be effective. The study found a midly negative relationship between student approval and examination performance.