What are the two biggest concerns for students about evaluations?
Research at Murdoch in 2000 by Ballantyne indicates a primary concern for students has nothing to do with the survey itself, but whether or not the information is actually used. It was suggested in the study, that a policy should be made about informing subsequent classes about the changes that were made as a result of previous evaluations. The second biggest concern was student confidentiality. According to Murdoch, students were worried that their comments could be traced back to them. This concern was also echoed by David L. Robbins, a professor at Columbia Business School, who said that Columbia had to scrap their in-house evaluation system due to confidentiality concerns.
