A trend study of student' consistent responses to course evaluation.

PURPOSE Most students choose the same option to questions in course evaluation surveys. Identical answers to each question render the results unreliable. The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of medical student' consistent responses to course evaluations. METHODS The data of this study were the results of a course evaluation over 3 years (from 2006 to 2008) at the School of Medicine at A University. RESULTS The proportion of students who replied with the same answers to each question was below 20%. This result was consistent in freshmen, sophomores, and junior students. Using a 5-point Likert scale, more than 40% of the students gave 5 points consistently. CONCLUSION We conclude that student' responses to evaluations do not have a significant impact on the reliability of course evaluations at Medical School at A University. These results differ significantly from those of previous research. Hence, future studies are required to analyze course evaluations in medical schools using diverse aspects.