Braskamp, L. A., Ory, J. C., & Pieper, D. M. (1981). Student written comments: Dimensions of instructional quality. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73(1), 65-70.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.73.1.65
Students' written comments to 4 open-ended questions used in end-of-semester student evaluations of 60 courses from 10 different fields, taught by instructors of different ranks, were content analyzed and classified into 22 categories. Approximately 50% of the comments were about the instructor, with 1 of 4 comments pertaining to the instructor's pedogogical skills. The degree of favorableness of written comments about the instructor and course was sufficiently convergent with ratings based on fixed alternative items measuring overall instructor performance and course quality. Students provided similar evaluations of course and instructor quality on both open-ended and fixed alternative items; nevertheless, each type of item provides useful and different information. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)