Richard D. Freedman

What Can One Learn from the Learning Style Inventory?1

The Learning Style Inventory is exemplary of instruments used in experiential learning about whose measurement properties little is known. Investigation of the instrument using graduate business students (n = 1,692) cast doubt about its practical usefulness, although some support for the underlying theory was demonstrated. This research suggests that greater care be taken with other instruments before they are applied in experiential learning.

Judgmental Decisions: A Study of Interactions Among Group Membership, Group Functioning, and the Decision Situation

In an experimental investigation of judgmental decision making (JDM) strong interactions are found among membership types (experts, representatives, coworkers), group functioning (interacting, nomi...

Student Evaluations of Courses and Faculty Based on a Perceived Learning Criterion: Scale Construction, Validation, and Comparison of Results

Validation studies of the Course-Faculty Evalua tion Instrument (CFI) are described. Seven dimen sions were constructed which characterize each class and predict student rating of the instructor, course, and text. Different measurement scales and methods were analyzed, using a multitrait-multi method (MTMM) strategy. The MTMM matrix for the CFI and a similar MTMM matrix for the Course-Evaluation Instrument (CEI) reported by Schwab (1974) were analyzed and compared. The same method of scaling was found to be superior in both studies. Using an analysis of variance frame work to summarize MTMM matrices, the CFI demonstrated greater discriminant validity using more dimensions (traits) and had a lower error component than the CEI. The benefits of compar ing instruments and implications for future course- faculty evaluation research are discussed.

Validity of the Course-Faculty Instrument (CFI): Intrinsic and Extrinsic Variables

The construct validity of class ratings of instructors measured by the Course-Faculty Instrument was assessed. Two sets of variables were used which explicate aspects of the nomological network of instructor ratings: (a) three intrinsic variables of instructor behavior represented wanted sources of rating variance (e.g., perceived effectiveness of instructor communications), and (b) six extrinsic variables represented variance often considered to be undesirable, (e.g., instructor sex). Eighty-nine percent of the variance in the ratings of 129 instructors teaching 334 classes (from 10,738 student ratings) was explained by the intrinsic measures of instructor behavior. Three of the extrinsic variables correlated significantly with intrinsic variables and/or ratings (rs ≤ .23). However, these latter variables (experience, rank, and publishing activities) may be as suggestive of validity as bias.

A PATH ANALYSIS OF FACTORS OFTEN FOUND TO BE RELATED TO STUDENT RATINGS OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

The relationships among several variables outside of the instructors classroom control and student ratings of teaching effectiveness are investigated in a causal network. Student ratings are relatively independent of external variables. Students may be able to take into account more factors than generally assumed when they rate their instructors.

Validity extension of the Course-Faculty Instrument (CFI)

The Course-Faculty Instrument (CFI) demonstrates similar measurement properties with student populations at four diverse institutions. These students agree about the nature and extent to which course and instructor attributes relate to their learning. The results suggest that: (1) a perceived learning criterion may have general relevance to students, and (2) validity extension research is an economically feasible alternative to full-scale instrument development and validation efforts. Since validity extension is practical and facilitates cross-institutional comparisons, it appears to be a more viable strategy for researching and instituting student evaluation systems than is suggested by its current usage.

Equal Employment Opportunity Regulation and Change in Compensation Practices.

The effects of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulation on the compensation practices of one organization were examined over 3 years. EEO regulation and top management policy directives had little impact in reducing salary inequities of female and minority employees who were employed at the time of the policy change; newcomers experienced moderate benefit. The response of the organization suggests concerns about the effectiveness of regulatory intervention designed to alter intra-organizational processes.

Comments On "the Impact of Experiential Learning Aids":

This paper raises issues of interest for those using instruments as part of their teaching. Certainly if the findings of this study were generalizable we could all feel somewhat more sanguine about using instruments and perhaps the model offered in the paper could be debated. Unfortunately this is not the case as a number of serious conceptual and methodological problems flaw the paper. Personally, I am left convinced of the need for more serious validity studies of the instrument we use in class.

Deskilling, or, Teacher's Manuals Don'T Give Us All Deskill We Need

a required OB course. Few of us, no matter how experienced or successful in teaching the course, do not frequently confront novel and/or extraordinarily difficult classroom challenges. In fact, the raison d’etre for this journal is that we all feel we could use help to improve our teaching. Despite all of this the author suggests that there are teacher’s manuals so &dquo;lucid and informative,&dquo; manuals so &dquo;full of ideas&dquo; and methods, manuals

How to Evaluate People in Business: The Track Record Method of making Correct JudgmentsDaileyCharles A. and MadsenAnn M. How to Evaluate People in Business: The Track Record Method of Making Correct Judgments.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980, 225 pp.,

The article reviews the book “How to Evaluate People in Business: The Track Record Method of Making Correct Judgments,” by Charles A. Dailey and Ann M. Madsen.