Are instructor reviews through ETS really anonymous?

Asked by guitarhero1983 (135

) August 26th, 2010

I have been requested by my college to fill out an instructor evaluation administered through ETS.org (Educational Testing Service). The ETS e-mail states “All responses from the survey are completely confidential; any information that could identify you will not be associated with your survey responses.” However, I want to make absolutely sure that my responses are anonymous as I do not believe the course was instructed well and I do not want this to impact my grade.

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5 Answers

I work for them, but I have no idea.

Facade (22937

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Who asked you – the teacher, the school, who?
There might be a way to see who wrote what, but so long as your teacher isn’t one of them, it’s not a big deal.

MyNewtBoobs (19069

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Well, if they break their own privacy terms, ETS leave themselves open to a fat-ass lawsuit should a breach ever come to light.

I would be inclined to say no, as it’s probably not worth the risk for them.

What I don’t understand is why your school don’t do it themselves – it’s not as if creating your own online survey is particularly difficult…

Would be a lot cheaper too…

the100thmonkey (11265

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I think you are perfectly safe. Just make sure that if you write an essay answer, that you do not use some common phrase or misspelling that the professor would recognize.

marinelife (62485

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@the100thmonkey Probably because student’s wouldn’t do it if it was just the university promising not to look.

MyNewtBoobs (19069

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