Co-design your evaluations or you will not trust the data

What this episode covers

This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses evaluation design: why staff and students need to co-design feedback instruments before anyone can fully trust the data they produce. The episode connects a six-year evaluation redesign study with OfS evidence requirements, PTES survey design and the risk of comparing scores that are not really comparable. In This Episode - Why a clean dashboard cannot rescue a badly designed survey question. - What co-design reveals about how staff and students understand good teaching. - Why concepts like rigour and learning environment need careful unpacking. - Why student evaluation scores are not automatically comparable across departments, programmes or time. - What OfS quality assessment tells us about missing module evaluation evidence. - How PTES incentives and confidentiality shape postgraduate feedback. Student Voice Practice The episode starts from a simple point: if the feedback instrument is badly designed, the data will never be as trustworthy as the dashboard suggests. Research Spotlight Student evaluations improve when staff and students redesign them together: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/student-evaluations-improve-when-staff-and-students-redesign-them-together/ Student evaluation scores are not automatically comparable across departments, programmes, or time: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/student-evaluation-scores-not-automatically-comparable/ Sector Watch OfS quality assessment flags missing module evaluations and student surveys at King Stage Limited: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/ofs-quality-assessment-missing-module-evaluations-king-stage/ Westminster's PTES 2026 launch shows how survey incentives and confidentiality shape postgraduate feedback: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/westminster-ptes-2026-survey-incentives-postgraduate-feedback/ From the Archive Do extracurriculars enhance psychology students' experience?: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/enhancing-the-university-experience-a-deep-dive-into-extracurricular-activities-for-psychology-students/ Do electrical engineering students prioritise hands-on learning?: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/understanding-electrical-and-electronic-engineering-students-perspectives/ The Best Text Analysis Software for Education: https://www.studentvoice.ai/resources/best-text-analysis-software-for-education/ Practical Takeaway Choose one survey item that staff often dispute and ask students and staff separately what they think it means. If the answers differ, the item is not ready to carry diagnostic weight. Full episode page: https://www.studentvoice.ai/podcast/episodes/006-co-design-your-evaluations-or-you-will-not-trust-the-data/ Subscribe to Student Voice Weekly: https://www.studentvoice.ai/blog/newsletter/

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