A normative investigation of faculty perceptions of undergraduate teaching

This study aims to investigate faculty perspectives on undergraduate teaching practices from a normative perspective. Maximum variation for purposeful sampling technique was employed to define the sample for the study. The diversity in the institutions where the faculty members were employed and academic rank was considered during sample selection. The sample of the study consisted of 282 faculty members who worked at seventeen different public universities during 2011-2012 academic-year. College Teaching Behaviors Inventory was used to collect the data. The Inventory was comprised of 8 categories which included 126 items related to teaching behaviors. The data gathered from the faculty members were analyzed with the use of simple descriptive statistics like, frequencies, percentages, and means. Furthermore, t-tests, ANOVA, and multivariate analysis techniques like factor analysis, MANOVA, and discriminant analysis were also employed to analyze the analyses. The results of the study revealed 5 categories and 50 behaviors that can be classified as inviolable norms, while there were 10 categories and 64 behaviors that were classified as admonitory norms. Significant differences were found between inviolable norms and institutions, disciplines, and faculty rank. Significant differences were found between factors scores related to admonitory norms and various higher education institutions and academic disciplines. The results of the study are used to provide recommendations that will aid in the identification and description of normative structure of colleges and universities.