Enhancing student engagement through effective ‘customer’ evaluation

Quis custodiet ipsos consumptores?

in Learning and Teaching
Author:
Geoff Payne Newcastle University geoff.payne@ncl.ac.uk

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2018.110104
Keywords:
Likert scales; National Student Survey; National Survey of Student Engagement; questionnaire design; student engagement; student satisfaction surveys
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Abstract

Most undergraduates’ main, hands-on involvement in student engagement is completing satisfaction surveys, such as the U.K. National Student Survey (NSS), whose findings make significant contributions to university policy formation. It is therefore important that these surveys produce reliable and valid data, but previous and current NSS versions fail to do this. This article compares the U.K.’s model of ‘satisfaction’ with that of the U.S. National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Whereas the NSS treats the student as a passive consumer, the NSSE treats the student as an active participant who shares personal liability for some of the educational outcomes. The NSSE’s greater use of factual rather than opinion questions, allowance for variation in types of students and student effort, and wider interpretation of ‘student engagement’ are seen as more fit for purpose and less influenced by the ideologies of neoliberalism and managerial control.

Contributor Notes

Geoff Payne is a Research Associate in Sociology at Newcastle University, where he has taught Social Research Methods. His publications include Key Concepts in Social Research and Teaching Quantitative Methods. E-mail: geoff.payne@ncl.ac.uk

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Learning and Teaching

The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences

Cover Learning and Teaching
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
25
Keywords:
Likert scales; National Student Survey; National Survey of Student Engagement; questionnaire design; student engagement; student satisfaction surveys
Print Publication Date:
01 Mar 2018
Online Publication Date:
01 Mar 2018
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2018

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