Introduction to a Questionnaire for Student Evaluation of the Quality of Web-Based Instruction
In 2000-2001, I attempted to develop a questionnaire for students to be used by instructors to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of a Web-based course. Items were created with the help of both a literature review and findings from a pilot study with instructors and students enrolled in four Web-based mathematics courses.
The following links are available for your review:
Guidelines for Evaluation of each Questionnaire Item
Unlike the majority of amateur instrument developers, I actually followed the steps recommended by many test and measurement experts for instrument development to ensure that the questionnaire scores possess the technical qualities required to produce useful measurement.
Content validity was investigated with the help of university professors in the field of tests and measurement, doctoral students and university professors from the field of educational technology, and representatives of the population for which the instrument was constructed. Construct validity was investigated through eight exploratory factor analyses. For this, students enrolled in 2- and 4-year institutions located in 15 western states were asked to complete the instrument. Ultimately, a total of 1,405 responses were used for the factor analytic studies.
Instrument reliability and content and construct validity of the instrument were also investigated. It is important to point out that it was not the instrument that was validated, but the inferences derived from the scores, that is, their meaning, relevance, and utility.