THE "INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY SURVEY": AN INSTRUMENT TO FACILITATE TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Many colleges and universities in recent years have shown an increased interest in the teaching effectiveness of their faculty. College-wide teacher rating instruments have become commonplace in many classrooms, including the introductory sociology classroom. Sociologists often express concern over these collegewide instruments for at least two reasons. First, sociologists have been rated generally by students as poor teachers (Linsky and Straus, 1973). Second, the applicability of these broad instruments to varied courses and circumstances is often questionable (Goldsmid and Wilson, 1980).