How do peer groups influence academic self-concept formation? We evaluate developmental issues in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on math self-concept [MSC]) and its generalizability to peer-group-average achievement (1,017 primary-school students tested in Years 4 and 6, 46 classes, 130 peer…

Recently graduated university students from all Australian Universities rate their overall departmental and university experiences (DUEs), and their responses (N = 44,932, 41 institutions) are used by the government to benchmark departments and universities. We evaluate this DUE strategy of rating overall departments and universities rather than…

The National Student Survey (NSS) of course experience satisfaction is sent to final year students of all higher education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (N = 171,290 and 157,342 students in 2005 and 2006) and results are made publicly available. The present investigation assesses the reliability and appropriate use…

For the international Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS2007) math and science motivation scales (self-concept, positive affect, and value), we evaluated the psychometric properties (factor structure, method effects, gender differences, and convergent and discriminant validity) in 4 Arab-speaking countries (Saudi Arabia,…

Research on the relation between students' achievement (ACH) and their academic self-concept (ASC) has consistently shown a Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect (BFLPE); ASC is positively affected by individual ACH, but negatively affected by school-average ACH. Surprisingly, however, there are few good UK studies of the BFLPE and few anywhere in the world…

Peer review is a gatekeeper, the final arbiter of what is valued in academia, but it has been criticized in relation to traditional psychological research criteria of reliability, validity, generalizability, and potential biases. Despite a considerable literature, there is surprisingly little sound peer-review research examining these criteria or…

Existing research posits multiple dimensions of bullying and victimization but has not identified well-differentiated facets of these constructs that meet standards of good measurement: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, lack of differential item functioning, and well-differentiated factors that are not so highly correlated as to detract…

In this investigation, we used a classic latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered approach, to identify groups of students who had similar profiles for multiple dimensions of academic self-concept (ASC) and related these LPA groups to a diverse set of correlates. Consistent with a priori predictions, we identified 5 LPA groups representing…

The Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument measures distinct dimensions of teaching effectiveness. Previous research has shown that ratings of a given instructor tend to generalize over different course offerings, but research has not examined whether each instructor had a generalizable, distinguishable profile of scale…

To test the applicability of multidimensional ratings of writing effectiveness that are amenable to normal classroom usage, all grade 7 students (N=139) from one suburban school (Sydney, Australia) wrote a brief essay. Master and student teachers evaluated all the essays according to overall effectiveness of written expression and according to…

Items from two North American instruments, designed to measure students' evaluation of teaching effectiveness, were administered to university students in different countries. Most of the items were judged by the students to be appropriate and important. Statistical analysis showed strong support for both the convergent and divergent validity of…

Two student evaluation surveys of "best" and "worst" teaching were administered to a sample of Australian university students. Separate factor analyses of the two surveys revealed the same factors that had been identified in American settings, demonstrating the feasibility of transferring American surveys to an Australian…

Agreement between multidimensional self-concept ratings by preadolescents and inferred self-concept ratings by teachers and parents was studied for 188 Australian children in grades 3 through 6. Children and significant others completed the Self-Description Questionnaire I. The degree of self-other agreement is discussed. (SLD)

An Australian study and a Canadian study evaluated the ability of significant others to infer multiple dimensions of self-concept of university students accurately. Subjects were 151 Australian and 941 Canadian university students. Four factor analyses (self- and other-responses by Australians and Canadians) all clearly identified the 13 factors…

The effectiveness of students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETs) as a means of enhancing university teaching was studied, with emphasis on the multidimensionality of SETs, an Australian version of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality instrument (the ASEEQ), and the 1986 feedback/consultation intervention of R. C. Wilson.…