This page contains information on the structure of Mercury questionnaires (including required and optional components) as well as guidelines for designing questionnaires.
Structure of Mercury Questionnaires
Course evaluation questionnaires use the following structure.
1. Required: Statement about the purposes, uses, utility, and mode of accessibility | |
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The following statements appear before students begin completing a course evaluation questionnaire. English"Subject to certain limitations, end-of-course evaluation results are to be accessible to the 9I制作厂免费 community. A statistical summary of responses will be used:
Any written comments will be used to provide useful information (e.g., suggested improvements) to the instructor and Head of the academic unit but will not be available to the 9I制作厂免费 community. French芦聽Sous r茅serve de certaines restrictions, les r茅sultats des 茅valuations de cours doivent 锚tre mis 脿 la disposition de la communaut茅 de l鈥橴niversit茅 9I制作厂免费. Un r茅sum茅 statistique des r茅ponses sera utilis茅 :
Les commentaires 茅crits serviront 脿 pr茅senter des renseignements utiles (p. ex. am茅liorations propos茅es) 脿聽 l鈥檈nseignant(e) et au directeur/directrice du d茅partement, mais ne seront pas mis 脿 la disposition de la communaut茅 de l鈥橴niversit茅 9I制作厂免费. Les 茅valuations de cours sont enti猫rement anonymes. Les r茅sultats sont remis 脿 un(e) enseignant(e)聽聽 seulement apr猫s que les notes finales du cours ont 茅t茅 pr茅sent茅es et approuv茅es.聽禄 |
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2. Required: Four Core Questions | |
The following four questions must be included in all questionnaires, in this order.
When applicable, the Academic Unit may replace the word 鈥渋nstructor鈥 by another appropriate term, such as 鈥渢eacher鈥 or 鈥渓ab coordinator." This part must include a space for students to provide written comments. |
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3. Optional: Faculty-Wide Questions | |
Faculties may choose to have Faculty-wide questions that appear on all course evaluations in the Faculty.
NOTE: If the total number of questions on the Faculty-wide questionnaire (including the 4 core questions) is less than 22, departments or Schools within the Faculty may choose to add additional questions, up to a maximum of 22. View information on designing questionnaires (recommended questions, comments, templates, language) |
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4. Optional: Department- or School-Wide Questions | |
Departments or Schools may add additional questions, provided the number of Faculty-wide questions is less than 18.
View information on designing questionnaires (recommended questions, comments, templates, language) |
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5. Required: Teaching Assistant Questions | |
Core questions 3 and 4 referring to Teaching Assistants rather than the instructor. Up to 3 questions related to Teaching Assistants.
NOTE: Questions related to Teaching Assistants do not count against the maximum of 25 questions. This part must include a space for students to provide written comments. |
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6. Optional: Instructor-Added Questions | |
Instructors may add up to three (3) questions to their course evaluations. Instructors will receive an email when the question submission period opens. |
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Designing Questionnaires
When constructing questions for your unit鈥檚 questionnaire, keep in mind that students do not have access to the comments. Therefore, a question such as 鈥淭he evaluation methods used in this course were appropriate鈥 is difficult to interpret because without student comments, it is not possible to discern whether the evaluation methods were too easy or too difficult. View student guidelines for interpreting numerical results.
Creating meaningful questionnaires
Resources, including a bank of recommended questions and guidelines for creating custom questions, are available to assist academic units and instructors in developing their questionnaires.
Comment Boxes
- Students should have at least one opportunity to provide written comments.
- Any question may include a comment box.
- Comments often provide useful information for improving courses and teaching as well as helping in the interpretation of results.
- All comments are confidential to the instructor and the head of the academic unit.
- Instructors may use聽intact聽sets of comments in their聽Teaching Portfolios.
Language
- Default course evaluation questionnaires can be made available to students in聽more than one language if the academic unit submits聽translated versions to聽.
- Students would then be able to select the language of the course evaluation questionnaire.
Need help developing your unit's questionnaire?
Contact Teaching and Learning Services for a consultation.