From Paper to Pixels: The Effects of Modality on End-of-Course Survey Responses

Abstract

This study examines how end-of-course surveys administered at the same institution in two modalities (online and in-class) differ. In particular, substantive responses to qualitative questions appeared systematically less substantive than those administered in class. However, students did respond to qualitative questions at a higher rate, even though these responses were, on average, less substantive. It also appears that survey response was far less consistent with one another in the online modality than the traditional, in-class modality. On the other hand, there is very little convincing evidence that shifting to online end-of-course surveys leads to more positive or negative responses.