MULTIDIMENSIONAL STUDENTS EVALUATIONS OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS - A TEST OF ALTERNATIVE HIGHER-ORDER STRUCTURES

Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) measures distinct dimensions of teaching effectiveness, but some researchers argue that student ratings should be considered as a relatively unidimensional construct or a single global hierarchical factor that incorporates distinct first order factors. Previous research was used to derive higher-order models positing 1, 2, 3, and 4 higher-order factors. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of responses to SEEQ supported the 9 first-order factors that SEEQ is designed to measure and the model with 4 second-order factors. For even the model with 4 higher-order factors, much of the true score variance in first-order factors was not explained by the higher-order factors. The study demonstrates that the SEEQ responses cannot be adequately explained by one or even a few summary scores and illustrates the application of hierarchical CFA.