Hi Chanel, and great question!
I found a great article on student perspective of course evaluations, and here is a quote:
"All the students agreed it is essential for faculty to get feedback in order to know where they stand in the eyes of the students. However, some expressed concern about what is done with the feedback, and if it is used at all: “I sometimes wonder if anything ever comes of them,” said one. Some felt it’s not possible to grade an instructor by simply assigning numbers: “Using a scale system to rank a teacher can hardly give enough insight to whether or not they are being an effective professor” and “It is too hard to get accurate description with attention to intricate details from a scantron.”
Instead, most of the students felt that asking more specific questions would help students express themselves better and give instructors more useful feedback. They felt that “other comments” was far too vague and broad a category: “Having a response like ‘comments about the professor’s tests,’ ‘comments about the professor’s teaching style,’ or ‘comments about the grading system’ would be more helpful.” Some students also questioned the quality of the feedback obtained: “Evaluations are a little too well structured, so they limit the student’s ability to provide genuine feedback.” "
Read more at From the Student's View - Student Course Evaluations
Every study I have read in the last year (and I have read lots because our college went to a new online evaluation system) is that students need to know that the feedback is used - by the instructor to improve the course and by the school to improve instruction. Faculty explaining to students the changes that have resulted from past surveys is very helpful in both improving participation rates, and the quality of the participation.
Here is a great blog posting from Doug McKee in Teaching where he discusses: How I extract Value From Course Evaluations.
And finally, a little something from the dissenting voices, because not everybody agrees on the value of course evaluations, and this is a nice moderate view from that camp: Rethinking the Course Evaluation from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
I hope this extra reading is useful.
Agent K