Student satisfaction evaluation of a higher education institution: an analysis of the methods of the Classical Theory of Measurement and of the Item Response Theory

Abstract

The present work compares the information generated by the Institutional Self-evaluation process of an Federal Institution of Higher Education (Ifes), in the context of the National Higher Education Evaluation System (Sinaes), and analyzed by the IFES Self-evaluation Committee, cycle of 2017, with the same information treated with the Item Response Theory (IRT) in place of the Classical Theory of Measurement, with the objective of demonstrating how the analysis process can benefit from the use of IRT, being a more robust instrument for the analysis and design of actions of improvements for institutional management. For this, we selected the “student category” extract from the evaluation about the institution, in the second cycle of 2017. The two theories, Classical and IRT, were described and compared. With the data collected from the institution, the information curves of the items and the test were calculated and explained, and through the analysis provided by the IRT was demonstrated the gain that can be obtained with its use in institutional management.

Institutional Self-evaluation; Item Response Theory; University Management