Interactive effects of teacher sex-role, student sex-role, and teacher warmth on the evaluation of college instruction

The present study examined the influence of teacher sex-role orientation, student sex-role orientation, and teacher warmth as perceived by students and teachers on teacher evaluations. Thirty teachers ( ten from each sex-role category) and students from one of their classes were the subjects in the study. A total of 497 students completed all of the required information. Teachers completed a Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) to determine their sex-role orientation and a warmth questionnaire to rate their warmth and interest. Students in the study completed the BSRI, the warmth questionnaire to rate their teacher's warmth and interest, and the IDEA questionnaire to evaluate their teacher's progress and effectiveness. Analysis of variance and and multiple linear regression techniques were used to analyze the data. The analysis indicated the following: 1. There was no interaction between teacher sex-role orientation and student sex-role orientation. 2. There was an interaction between teacher sex and student sex. 3. Androgynous teachers were rated overall higher than either masculine or feminine teachers. 4. Teachers who rated themselves as above average on warmth and primarily interested in students received significantly higher ratings than did their below average warmth or course content oriented counterparts. The same relationship was found when students rated teacher warmth and interest. 5. Multiple regression analyses revealed that although the above relationships are statistically significant, the amount of variance they account for (multiple R and R[squared]) was quite small. Implications of the finding and possible areas of further research were discussed. It was suggested that further research look more into the student's head to determine which characteristics are most important when rating teacher effectiveness.