ABSTRACT
Do personality traits influence the evaluation process?
The issue of personality as a factor in the outcome of the evaluations historically divided the defenders and critics of the SET process. Defenders suggest the effects of student and instructor personality are small and, in general, those traits that do influence the evaluations can be modified and/or are intrinsic to being a good teacher. Critics maintain the effect is large and personality traits that influence the outcome of the evaluations may be difficult to change and are ultimately not pertinent to what the evaluations should be measuring. Self-assessed personality is unrelated to SET, but the perception of the personality of others is not. While the instructor’s assessment of their own personality is unrelated to the evaluations, the students’ perception of the instructor’s personality is strongly associated with SET; so much so that the evaluation instrument could be replaced with a personality inventory with little loss of predictive validity. The perception of personality seems to be the lens through which students look at other instructor variables when making their evaluations of instruction. One summarizing explanation would suggest that students judge a person as an instructor, and then assign personality traits consistent with that perception.
