Teaching and Learning Development Unit

FAQs on MEQs

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This page contains a range of questions (and answers) about the module evaluation process. If you have a question that does not appear on these pages, please contact John Davies j.m.davies@sussex.ac.uk in the Teaching and Learning Development Unit

Listed below are general FAQs. We have also created FAQs specifically for students and staff which can be accessed using the links on the left.

General FAQS

1. What is it?
The Sussex Module Evaluation Questionnaire (MEQ) is the method by which students' experiences of nearly all modules at Sussex will be gathered. The MEQ contains:

  • seven core (common) questions
  • can contain up to ten additional questions set by the School; these questions can be set exclusively at School-level, set exclusively at module-level or a mixture of both (e.g. five School-level and five module-level questions); These questions can be on either a 1-5 scale or seek text-based responses from students.

2. How do students complete the MEQ?
The MEQ is completed online through Sussex Direct. Students will see a message on their Sussex Direct homepage and on their Module Resources page. Summary results for all modules are also published through Sussex Direct. All responses are anonymous.

3. What information gets published in Sussex Direct

  • Students do not see the cohort's responses to every item on the MEQ. Students see results for the seven core questions only.
  • The comments entered by the module convenor about the feedback received from students are included in the MEQ summary for the module.
  • Anyone with access to Sussex Direct can view the MEQ summary and convenor comments for any module.
  • The University considers that a response rate of at least 50% is desirable in terms of providing representative data. In terms of publication of results, there is no lower limit on response rate, other than that determined by the minimum number of responses required. If the response rate achieved for a particular module is lower than 50% then a message indicating that results should be treated with caution will appear alongside the MEQ summary displayed to students.
  • Please note that students' written responses are NOT published.

4. Why are MEQ summaries being published in Sussex Direct?
The current policy on student evaluation states "in order to give students an incentive to provide feedback, a feedback  summary should be published for each module comprising a digest of the responses". Publishing through Sussex Direct ensures that all students receive this digest and that individual departments do not have to analyse their MEQs. The average score for each question (mean & median) and the frequency of responses is published.

5. What effect does response rate (% of the cohort who completed the MEQ) have on the results
Achieving a representative response rate is very important to have confidence in the results of module evaluation. What is considered to be a representative response rate varies with the overall size of the cohort (the larger the cohort, the lower the response rate required). As a general benchmark, however, the University considers that more than half the students on a module should complete the evaluation for results to be representative of the cohort. Please note that there is no lower limit on publication in relation to the percentage response rate. If the figure is lower that 50% for a module, then Conveners may choose to flag this in the comments section. If a module does not achieve this response rate the results should be treated with caution.

6. What is the purpose of module evaluation?
The purpose of module evaluation (as opposed to the evaluation of the overall student experience) is threefold:
- to provide information to assist tutors to reflect on their module design and teaching;
- to encourage course participants to reflect on their own learning and to help inform module choice;
- to inform monitoring of modules, particularly at departmental level, in order to guide academic developments.

7. How does the MEQ fit in with other surveys that are carried out at Sussex?
MEQ data are important, but are only one element in a holistic evaluation of the quality and development of a module. The other aspects include the National Student Survey, External Examiner reports and peer observation of teaching. Because of this correspondence between the MEQ survey items and items within the NSS for example, it can provide staff of the department or school with an indication of the relative contributions of different modules to performance on other survey instruments.

8. How was the MEQ developed?
A Working Group, comprising academic staff, professional service staff and representatives of the Students' Union devised the MEQ. It was first piloted in Summer Term 2008. Six departments participated in the pilots (Engineering and Design, History, Informatics, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology). The questions and MEQ process have been revised as a result of these pilots. Statistical analysis of the MEQ has demonstrated that it is a reliable and robust method of capturing a broad understanding of students' module experiences. It was approved by the University's Teaching and Learning Committee in Summer 2009.