What do you think? Psychological Determinants of Online Course Evaluation Response Rates
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2022-07-08
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en
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Students' feedback is a key source of information to improve the quality of the educational
system, but few students commonly fill out course evaluations, potentially biasing the feedback. Thus,
this study tested an intervention to increase students’ response rates using a novel approach in the
response rate context: The psychological variables influencing students’ decision to fill out course
evaluations were identified with the use of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), organized in a
process model, and targeted with behavior change strategies. Three emails requesting 463 college
students to fill out a total of 2,163 evaluations were crafted with the use of selected behavior change
strategies and sent during the evaluation period. Students were randomized to receive either the
intervention emails or control emails. The Chi-square analysis indicated that the intervention group
did not fill out more responses than the control group. The applied behavior change strategies may
have not been effective, but the presence of a confounding variable obscured the interpretation of the
results. While the strategies may not have been effective, the psychological variables could have been
still correctly identified. Hence, a questionnaire was administered to 135 first-year students to validate
the process model. The results of the regression analyses confirmed the identification of importance,
usefulness, prosocial attitude, responsibility, forgetting, and questionnaire fatigue as the key variables
influencing students’ decision to fill out course evaluations, making this validated process model a
strong basis for future interventions. Additionally, the intention-behavior gap with forgetting and
questionnaire fatigue as moderators explained 61% of the variability in the behavior of filling out
course evaluations. A discussion about this large percentage contributes to the theoretical literature
supporting the predictive ability of the TPB being contingent upon the identification of the
moderating variables of the relationship between intention and behavior.
Keywords: response rates, course evaluation, behavior change strategies, process model,
intention-behavior gap, Theory of Planned Behavior, forgetting, questionnaire fatigue
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen