Understanding the open-ended responses
Students’ written comments can be a rich source of contextual data to help you understand the
numerical scores on your SCP. Interpreting these comments can feel overwhelming; as our
own worst critics there is a tendency to hyper-focus on and overemphasize any negative
feedback, even when this feedback is outweighed by positive student feedback.
The Teaching Assessment Processes office is working with students, providing education about
how to offer useful feedback to instructors and also emphasizing that inappropriate comments
of any kind (e.g., sexist, racist, discriminatory, or harassment) will not be tolerated. If you
receive a comment of this nature we encourage you to contact the Teaching Assessment
Processes office, the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-racism, or the Chair of your
department so that action can be taken (e.g., that particular student’s responses to all survey
questions can be removed from the results).
Consider walking through the following steps when reviewing open-ended responses:
Sort the comments into two categories: positive feedback and negative feedback.
- You could also include a category for ambiguous or confusing comments that you can’t immediately sort
Review your mean scores, considering
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how accurately the comments reflect your mean scores;
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whether the comments were positive or negative overall;
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the total number of comments in each column.
Look for patterns:
- Are there things students seem to consistently identify?
- Are most comments focused on course design or course delivery?
Highlight any comments that reference scheduling, class length, timing and frequency or class composition.
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These items are out of an instructor’s control and should be discussed with your department Chair.