Part-time faculty tend to have less institutional support, such as permanent offices. They may lack university telephone and email accounts, which can facilitate student contact and thus improve ratings. However, much to Landrum's surprise, the evident dedication of part-time faculty and their high student ratings did not support his hypothesis. Not only do the part-time instructors lack technical support and have less experience teaching, they also "teach a greater proportion of lower-division students compared to full-time faculty, who may be less enthusiastic about the academic process" yet results showed no significant deviation in terms of part-time teacher evaluations or the course grades they awarded to students (Landrum 2009, 24).

The abuse of adjunct instructors, who are often low-paid and receive little support, is notorious in academia: yet the Landrum analysis suggests that even in the absence of high salaries, benefits, and support, these teachers are willing to exercise a comparable level of effort as their full-time colleagues. Given that cash-poor universities are increasingly turning to cheaper part-time...

Firstly, at the institution observed by Landrum, it might be possible that there were a large number of graduate students, hoping to bolster their academic resumes and tenured faculty relationships with strong student evaluations, as opposed to part-time teachers merely trying to find a source of extra income. No analysis was conducted of the specific future aspirations of part-time teachers that dominated the selected institution. Landrum also focused solely on social science disciplines, so his conclusions may not be generalizable to all departments (Landrum 2009, p.24). There is also the final question of whether student evaluations, which can be hastily filled out and are often inconsistent and insincere, are the best way to evaluate teacher quality: at very least, observations or other ratings might present a more complete picture of the comparable quality of the two types of faculty.
Reference

Landrum, R. Eric. (2009, Winter). "Are…