The Use of Course Evaluation Scores to Influence Teaching and Research Activities

The issue of course and teacher evaluations is one which continues to engender great interest. In this article, Paul Kipps comments on the Hansen-Kelley model as presented in the Fall 1973 issue of this journal, and then presents his own modifications and extensions of the model. These modifications deal mainly with the shape of the indifference curves and the slope of the output possibilities curve. The Kipps analysis casts doubts on the effectiveness of efforts to make significant improvements in the teaching output of research-oriented professors, and in the research work of teaching-oriented faculty members through voluntary incentive systems.