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Factors Affecting Medical Student Participation in Student Evaluations of Teaching: A Retrospective Study
Walker, R. [1]
Tucker, S. [1]
Smith, M. L. [7]

Journal: Journal of Osteopathic Medicine Date: 2025/12, 125(12):Pages: A655–656. doi: Subito , type of study: retrospective study

Full text    (https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/jom-2025-2000/html)

Keywords:

medical students [647]
osteopathic medicine [2025]
retrospective study [318]
teaching evaluation [1]
USA [1656]

Abstract:

Context: Effective evaluation systems are essential for fostering collaboration between students and medical educators and for enhancing the quality of medical education. Student curriculum representatives at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) play a key role in collecting student feedback to highlight areas of course improvement. In addition to formal course evaluations administered by the Testing and Evaluation Services office at TCOM, faculty also rely on student-driven feedback through Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET), specifically those administered as surveys by student curriculum representatives. However, achieving adequate participation in these student-led SET surveys remains a challenge. Historically, this has raised faculty concerns about the validity and representativeness of the data due to sampling bias. While educators value constructive feedback, concerns about the validity of survey data can sometimes lead to its rejection (1). Enhancing response rates can support the generation of more meaningful, actionable feedback and promote a more responsive and effective curriculum development process (2). This study aims to identify barriers and motivators to SET survey participation to support higher response rates and more actionable feedback for faculty. This initiative will help bridge the gap between student input and curriculum development, creating a more responsive and effective educational environment. Objective: To identify and quantify factors influencing medical students’ participation in SET surveys. Methods: This retrospective study utilized an archival review of existing data collected from SET surveys distributed to the TCOM Class of 2027, which has an average of 235 students. At the conclusion of each course, SET surveys were shared with the class via a link to a Google form created by the curriculum representatives. Surveys were shared through email and social platforms (GroupMe, Discord, Facebook). The format primarily consisted of required Likert scale questions and optional open-ended short-answer questions. Survey questions addressed components of the course such as course content, delivery of course materials, exam content, calendar timelines, and required class sessions. The content of the responses was not considered in the collection of data. Participation rates and response patterns were extracted from SET surveys administered throughout the pre-clinical curriculum. In addition to descriptive analysis, a survey data analysis was conducted to explore potential factors influencing response behavior, including course timing, cognitive load of schedule, survey length, survey availability window, course mean grade, and method of survey distribution. Simple linear regression analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism version 10.1.2 to assess the relationship between selected variables and student participation rates. These methods were employed to identify trends and quantify the impact of various factors on engagement with SET surveys. The mission of TCOM is to “create solutions for a healthier community by preparing tomorrow’s patient-centered physicians and scientists and advancing the continuum of medical knowledge, discovery, and osteopathic health care,” and one way it fulfills this mission is to “provide a curriculum that is evidence-based and grounded in the learning sciences” (3). This research supports both the osteopathic philosophy and TCOM’s commitment to holistic, student-centered education by identifying barriers to effective feedback mechanisms within the medical curriculum. Results: Data from 21 SET surveys distributed to the TCOM Class of 2027 were collected between August 14, 2023 and December 13, 2024 by TCOM curriculum representatives. An average of 13 +/- 1.5 % of students answered each survey. The average survey length was 22.86 ± 2.98 items. Of the surveys answered, the mean course grade was 87.21% +/- 0.3363%. Linear regression analysis revealed no significant relationships between participation rate and average course grade (P = 0.78), semester placement (P = 0.98), schedule load (P = 0.89), or number of days the survey was open (P = 0.51). However, survey length was positively associated with response rate (P = 0.009). Conclusion: Data from this study suggests that SET survey length may influence student participation. In contrast, variables such as mean course grade, semester placement, schedule load at the time of the survey, and the survey availability window were not significantly associated with survey engagement. Future research could explore the optimal survey length to maximize response rates or examine how students’ perceptions of a course—such as overall reception—impact participation, potentially by analyzing trends in positive versus negative survey comments. Additionally, tracking the frequency and timing of survey distribution across communication platforms may provide further insight into engagement patterns. However, limitations in GroupMe’s search functionality currently hinder efficient retrieval of such data, highlighting the need for more structured dissemination tracking in future studies. Furthermore, factors such as the time students spent completing the survey, their level of engagement with open-ended sections, and the timing of responses relative to the survey’s release could also be explored in future research.

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