INFORMED USE OF COMPUTERIZED DATABASES AS A TOOL FOR EVALUATING QUALITY AT AN ACADEMIC INSTITUTION

This paper explores the use of computerized databases on student evaluations of academic and administrative faculty performance. The paper presents findings from a study exploring the association between department size at the Ariel University Center, and performance quality as reflected assessment scores granted by students to members of the administrative and teaching staff. The main research question relates to any connection between unit size and assessment scores and is especially relevant in the age of economic considerations of operations and the potential advantages of ecoomies of scale. Furthermore, this study seeks an answer to the question of whether any connection exists between scores granted to administrative staff and teaching staff, and whether any individual or scholastic variable affects students’ assessments of staff performance. The study is based on an analysis of 23,000 questionnaires completed by students in the 2007–2008 academic year reflecting students’ assessments of the teaching faculty, and 1,900 questionnaires on which students assessed the administrative staff in their department of study. The main conclusion of this study is a significant inverse statistical association between unit size and student assessment scores.