A presentation from the HEA Surveys for Enhancement Conference 2011.
At Liverpool John Moores University in 2010 in addition to scrutinising satisfaction scores thematic and content analysis were used to examine the qualitative student comment data. Results show that the comments only reflect the scores in 40% of the subject reporting groups and in 5% of the groups comments contradict the scores. Meta analysis revealed that some scales were more likely to show discrepancies between the quantitative and qualitative data. By comparing the qualitative and quantitative data an institution or subject group is able to get beneath the skin of the score profiles. Qualitative data can also help differentiate between more transient causes of dissatisfaction (for example disruption related to building change) or more deep rooted issues. From the perspective of quality enhancement we feel that the qualitative data is more helpful and informative when aiming to improve student experience. These data explain the context extent and strength of the issues summarised in the scores and helps to identify the causes. A solely summative approach results in over analysis of the scores and a tendency to focus only on the past situation (Flint et al. 2009). Student comments enable formative action to be taken in the context of quality enhancement.
