Some complained exams cover only the text and others only the lecture, others about use or nonuse of grading curves, or requiring or not requiring attendance. Obviously, teachers cannot please everyone. Lack of respect for students and poor use of class time elicited the most concerns. Positively, few faculty members seemed to demonstrate a lack of interest, competence, or depth in their subject or teaching, and most seemed to grade fairly. Students rarely complained about too much work, sexism, or racism.
Responses represent number of peeves.
Students sometimes gave two different peeves coded into a single category. Total percentage may not equal sum of item percentages due to rounding. Future research could investigate the differential effectiveness of student evaluations, peer review, and the pet peeves technique in facilitating changes in faculty teaching. The study has limitations. The data represent a single public regional university campus with few minority students.