Despite the warnings, however, Davis says that students continue to misread the Guide--for instance, many falsely assume that because one-third of respondants praised the textbook, two-thirds did not like it. As the introduction would explain, the two-thirds likely had no opinion at all.

Graduate students say that they also doubt the accuracy of the CUE Guide.

"To a certain extent, the ratings reflect quality of teaching, but also may reflect other things--popularity of [the] TF in places beyond teaching," Lee says.

Objectivity

Despite criticisms, CUE officials say the Guide strives for impartiality.

"The CUE Guide is meticulously edited to avoid biases of any kind. We make every effort to assure that the publication is as representative as possible of student opinion," writes CUE Guide writer/editor Jared H. Beck '99 in an e-mail.

Although students say that their own responses are not always representative of their own opinions, Pilbeam says the Guide is as accurate as it can be.

"[The CUE Guide] is accurate in that it represents exactly what people write on the forms," he says.

A number of factors affect accuracy and objectivity before the questionnaires ever reach the Guide's writers, students say.

For example, small seminar classes invariably get higher ratings than large lecture courses. Part of the ratings' disparity is most likely due to student preference for classes with professor contact, but Carlton F.W. Larson '97 suggests a different reason.

"The ratings in the small classes tend to be pretty high because the students in them need to get recommendations from the professor, and so they're not going to tear them apart," Larson says.

In addition, the CUE questionnaires are usually passed around in the last minutes of lecture, a time when many students need to get to another class or are simply fatigued.

"There's definitely a problem with wanting to rush and get the thing done with," Larson says.

Even though the statistical data may be accurate, some students say they are not as careful with the written portion of the evaluation.

Abdenur says she feels she is objective when rating elements of the course on the statistical portion, but her commentary on the course may be more subjective.