Multidimensional students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness: Generalizability of "N = 1" research: Comment on Marsh (1991).

Marsh (1991) conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to demonstrate the multimensionality of one rating form with which to assess students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETEs). In this comment it is argued that Marsh's research is limited in several ways : (a) Prior research suggests that SETEs are low in uniformity, (b) the study is too limited to be generalizable, (c) only first- and second-order factors were assessed, (d) no attempt was made to revise the SETE to conform to a global theory of instruction, and (e) extraneous influences were not controlled. A secondary analysis of the SETE revealed that dimensionality was not stable across solutions and that a global factor could be retrieved