Student Evaluations of Teaching Effectiveness in Marketing: Experience vs. Background

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether marketing students evaluate instructors based on knowledge of the instructors' abilities and teaching methods or whether students make evaluations based on the students’ own background such as major, sex, whether the course is required or not, and the expected grade. Our evaluation instrument used the key dimensions of a “Master Teacher” in marketing as identified by Smart et al. (1988). The respondents were 344 students in four different international marketing courses. Factor analysis identified two underlying constructs being used by the students: “professional ability” and “classroom techniques". These “explained” .30 of the variation in students perceived effectiveness. “Ability” alone “explained” .28. The only significant external variables were “expected grade” and “elected course” (vs. required). Our conclusion is that marketing students will evaluate an instructor based on knowledge of the instructor’s abilities and teaching methods. External influences are not a major artifact.