Uses and misuses of student opinion surveys in eight Australian universities

Student opinion surveys (SOSs) are commonly used in universities to measure student perceptions of teaching performance. Ostensibly their prime purpos e is to improve teaching quality. This paper critically examines SOSs in ei ght Australian universities where survey design and analysis were examined and compared with literature recommendations. We find that current SOSs are neither designed nor structured according to sound questionnaire technique and that, as part of a teaching evaluation system, they are seriously flaw ed. Deficiencies include: their use as the sole measure of teaching effecti veness, the tendency for universities to rely on unmoderated student opinio n without tempering the results with contextual factors, and a lack of test ing for reliability and validity that renders the data of unknown precision . We argue that, at present, SOSs expose teachers to unreliable, invalid op inions that influence teacher career advancement and job security.