Surveys play an important role in understanding the higher education landscape. About 60 percent of the published research in major higher education journals utilized survey data (Pike, 2007). Institutions also commonly use surveys to assess student outcomes and evaluate programs, instructors, and even cafeteria food. However, declining survey…

A national study of family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals in higher education was analyzed as a case study to illustrate procedures useful for investigating issues related to FCS. The authors analyzed response rates of more than 1,900 FCS faculty and administrators by comparing those invited to participate and the 345 individuals who…

Aim/Purpose: This study aimed to examine whether there is a difference between manual feedback and online feedback with regard to feedback quality, respondents' percentage, reliability and the amount of verbal comments written by students. Background: The quality of teaching is an important component of academic work. There are various methods for…

"The Expanded Success Initiative: Challenges and Progress in the Pursuit of College and Career Readiness for Black and Latino Young Men" synthesizes findings from the Research Alliance's four-year evaluation of Expanded Success Initiative (ESI). This report, draws on hundreds of interviews and focus groups with ESI school leaders,…

This study seeks to understand academic faculty job satisfaction, focusing on three different sets of variables--characteristics of the individual, the work context and institutional interactions. In one sense, each explanation is rooted in the individual, as is appropriate to a study of individual satisfaction. Thus, when the authors examine…

The number of students taking at least 1 online course has surpassed 7.1 million and represents 33% (21.3 million) of all higher education students (Allen & Seaman, 2013). With the growing number of online courses, credibility may be questioned. Are there effective evaluation processes in place? This article will describe the results of a…

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the methods used to evaluate music faculty and whether achievement measures, or student progress, impact the evaluations made about teacher effectiveness for music faculty in the higher education context. The author surveyed Chairs of Departments or Directors of Schools of Music (n = 412) listed as…

Schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States have struggled over the past several decades with identifying a consistent title for the broad body of knowledge related to the social, economic, behavioral, and administrative aspects of pharmacy. This paper examines the educational background and professional experience of those teaching…

The impetus for conducting this research is near and dear to my heart along with desiring to make a change for the better. In conducting interviews of Nigerian women's experiences, struggles and accessibility to secondary education, the research shows significant barriers to secondary education in their narrative experiences that their male…

Institutions of higher education rely on student surveys for a number of purposes, including planning, assessment, and research. Web surveys are especially prevalent given their ease of use and low-cost; yet, obtaining a high response rate is a challenge. Although researchers have investigated the use of incentives in traditional mail surveys,…

This paper reviews the literature on comparing online and paper course evaluations in higher education and provides a case study of a very large randomised trial on the topic. It presents a mixed but generally optimistic picture of online course evaluations with respect to response rates, what they indicate, and how to increase them. The paper…

Created in a time of segregation and discrimination to educate students of color, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played a pivotal role in transforming the landscape of higher education in the United States. Today, in an era of rapid transformation, HBCUs face historic challenges as well as new obstacles. Questions about…

Online surveys in general are advantageous because of the ease of administration, collection and storing of data resulting in monetary and time savings. Though research in general shows the advantages to be beneficial, the down-side to such online surveys has been the response rate. The aim of this paper is to initiate a discussion where one…

Faculty development has been evolving in focus and form over the past five decades. Originally organized around sabbatical leaves, faculty development now offers a wide array of programs and involves a growing body of highly professional, deeply dedicated professionals. As both faculty members and faculty developers with over fifty collective…

Computer-mediated communication pervades society today. Higher education is no exception. Recently in the USA, a debate has emerged regarding online administration of student ratings of instruction (SROIs). Since these end-of-semester messages offered by students are used to influence merit, promotion and tenure decisions, the utility of…