Validity of student satisfaction surveys to assess teaching quality: the UPCT case study (Cartagena, Spain)

[ES] El programa DOCENTIA de ANECA se de­sarrolló como base para los modelos me­diante los cuales las universidades espa­ñolas evalúan la docencia del profesorado, una necesidad ligada a los requerimientos de transparencia y de mejora continua que están en la esencia del EEES. Entre los in­dicadores habituales en estos modelos destacan las encuestas de satisfacción de los estudiantes, cuya validez es objeto de debate desde el origen de su utilización. Una de las opiniones críticas más extendi­das sostiene que las encuestas no son una buena referencia, porque contienen ses­gos inasumibles. Con el objetivo de com­probar si existen realmente esos sesgos, se ha realizado un estudio estadístico a partir de los datos de indicadores de calidad en la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Se ha empleado la regresión lineal múlti­ple, mediante el procedimiento conocido como regresión hacia atrás, para identifi­car las variables que pudieran influir en las valoraciones que hacen los estudiantes y cuantificar su efecto. El principal resultado del estudio es que las variables analizadas, que suelen citarse como causas de sesgo, muestran una influencia poco o nada signi­ficativa sobre los resultados de las encues­tas. Por otra parte, es importante subrayar que hay aspectos de la actividad docente que solamente pueden evaluarse a partir de la observación sistemática que hacen los estudiantes. Por todo ello considera­mos que las encuestas de satisfacción son un indicador indispensable, y es funda­mental que el peso que se les asigna en el modelo de evaluación docente refleje su importancia.[EN]  ANECA´s DOCENTIA program was developed to support the evaluation of teaching by the Spanish universities. Nowadays, teaching quality evaluation is a need linked to the transparency and continuous improvement requirements inherent to the European Higher Education Area. The indicators on the quality models frequently include student evaluation of teaching (SET), whose validity is the subject of a broad debate from the beginning of its use. One of the most widespread critical opinions argues that student surveys are not a good reference, as they contain non-assumable biases. With the aim of verify whether these biases actually exist, a statistical study has been carried out based on quality indicators data from the Technical University of Cartagena. Multiple linear regression has been used, through backward stepwise regression, to identify variables that may influence students’ opinions and to quantify their effects. The main result is that the variables analyzed, many of which are often cited as causes of bias, show little or no significant influence on student satisfaction with teaching. It is also important to remark that there are aspects of the teaching activity that can only be evaluated from the systematic observation made by students. Therefore, we believe that student surveys are an essential indicator, and their weight within teaching evaluation models should reflect their relevance.García Martín, A.; Montero Cases, T.; García León, J.; Vázquez Arenas, G. (2020). Validez de las encuestas de satisfacción de los estudiantes para evaluar la calidad docente: el caso de la UPCT (Cartagena). REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria. 18(1):275-290. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2020.12996OJS275290181Abadía, A.R., Bueno, C., Ubieto-Artur, M.I., Márquez, M.D., Sabaté, S., Jorba, H., Pagès, T. (2015). Competencias del buen docente universitario. Opinión de los estudiantes. REDU, Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 13(2), 363-390. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2015.5453Benton, S.L., Cashin, W.E. (2013). Student ratings of instruction in college and university courses. En M.B. Paulsen (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (pp. 279-326). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8005-6_7Berk, R.A. (2014). Should student outcomes be used to evaluate teaching? Journal of Faculty Development, 28(2), 87-96. Recuperado de https://pdfs.semanticscholar. org/72dc/eb08a40f9019c72d5f20971bd3413fe06efd.pdfBoring, A. (2017). Gender biases in student evaluations of teaching. Journal of Public Economics, 145, 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.11.006Casero, A. (2010). Factores moduladores de la percepción de la calidad docente. RELIEVE, Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa, 16(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.7203/relieve.16.2.4135Centra, J.A. (2003). Will teachers receive higher student evaluations by giving higher grades and less course work? Research in Higher Education, 44(5), 495-518. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025492407752Cohen, P.A. (1983). Comment on a selective review of the validity of student ratings of teaching. The Journal of Higher Education, 54(4), 448-458. https://doi.org/10.2307/1981907Elizondo, A., Novo, A., Silvestre, M. (2010). Igualdad de mujeres y hombres en las universidades españolas. Instituto de la Mujer, Madrid. Recuperado de http://www.inmujer.gob.es/areasTematicas/estudios/serieEstudios/docs/ igualdadUniversidades.pdfEmery, C.R., Kramer, T.R., Tian, R.G. (2003). Return to academic standards: a critique of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness. Quality Assurance in Education, 11(1), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880310462074Fernández Rico, J.E., Fernández, S., Álvarez, A., Martínez Camblor, P. (2007). Éxito académico y satisfacción de estudiantes con la enseñanza universitaria. RELIEVE, Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.7203/relieve.13.2.4207Franklin, M. (2016). Student evaluations of teaching in business and accounting courses: a perspective and a suggested improvement. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2016.1226458García Martín, A., García-León, J. (2017). Una experiencia de medición de la carga de trabajo percibida por los estudiantes para facilitar la coordinación horizontal. REDU, Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 15(1), 81-104. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2017.5987Greenwald, A.G., Gillmore, G.M. (1997). No pain, no gain? The importance of measuring course workload in student ratings of instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(4), 743-751. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.4.743Hammonds, F., Mariano, G.J., Ammons, G., Chambers, S. (2016). Student evaluations of teaching: improving teaching quality in higher education. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 21(1), 26-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2016.1227388Isla-Díaz, R., Marrero-Hernández, H., Hess-Medler, S., Soriano, M., Acosta-Rodríguez, S., Pérez-Monteverde, M.V., Blanco-Freijo, M. (2018). Una mirada longitudinal: ¿Es el "Docentia" útil para la evaluación del profesorado universitario? RELIEVE, Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa, 24(2). https://doi.org/10.7203/relieve.24.2.12142Jones, J. (1989). Students' ratings of teacher personality and teaching competence. Higher Education, 18(5), 551-558. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138747López-Aguado, M. (2018). La evaluación de la calidad de títulos universitarios. Dificultades percibidas por los responsables de los sistemas de garantía de calidad. Educación XX1, 21(1), 263-284. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.20195Marsh, H., Roche, L. (1997). Making students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness effective. American Psychologist, 52(11), 1187-1197. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.11.1187Marsh, H. (2007). Students' evaluations of university teaching: dimensionality, reliability, validity, potential biases and usefulness. En R.P. Perry and J.C. Smart (eds.), The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective, 319-383. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5742-3_9Mas Torelló, O. (2012). Las competencias del docente universitario: la percepción del alumno, de los expertos y del propio protagonista. REDU - Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 10(2), 299-318. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2012.6109Murray, H.G. (2005). Student evaluation of teaching: has it made a difference? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Recuperado de https://www.stlhe.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Student-Evaluation-of- Teaching1.pdfRamírez, M.I., Montoya, J. (2014). La evaluación de la calidad de la docencia en la universidad: Una revisión de la literatura. REDU, Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 12 (2), 77-95. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2014.5641Sánchez, F., Rubio, R., Alonso, E., Retamal, K. (2009). La valoración de la actividad docente. Algo más que la opinión de los estudiantes. Boletín de Psicología, 97, 71-92. Recuperado de https://www.uv.es/seoane/boletin/previos/N97-5.pdfSpooren, P., Mortelmans, D., Thijssen, P. (2012). 'Content' versus 'style': acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching? British Educational Research Journal, 38(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.523453Uttl, B., White, C.A., Gonzalez, D. (2017). Meta-analysis of faculty's teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. Studies in Educational Evaluation 54, 22-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2016.08.007Wolbring, T., y Treischl, E. (2016). Selection bias in students' evaluation of teaching. 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One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

Amazonia's floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region's floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. Our results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon's tree diversity and its function.Naturali

Intimate partner violence in older women in Spain: prevalence, health consequences, and service utilization

The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of lifetime intimate partner violence (IPV) in older women and to analyze its effect on women's health and Healthcare Services utilization. Women aged 55 years and over (1,676) randomly sampled from Primary Healthcare Services around Spain were included. Lifetime IPV prevalence, types, and duration were calculated. Descriptive and multivariate procedures using logistic and multiple lineal regression models were used. Of the women studied, 29.4% experienced IPV with an average duration of 21 years. Regardless of the type of IPV experienced, abused women showed significantly poorer health and higher healthcare services utilization compared to women who had never been abused. The high prevalence detected long standing duration, negative health impact, and high healthcare services utilization, calling attention to a need for increased efforts aimed at addressing IPV in older women