Teacher-Student Interpersonal Relationships and Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) as a Research Domain in Educational Studies

The researchers have been occupied with questions on teacher–student relationship such as “How is the profile of a teacher in the classroom from the students’ point of view?” and “How and why is it possible that teachers are perceived differently by students in two different classes?” The research in this context examines teaching from an interpersonal perspective. Conceptual framework of interpersonal relationship is based on systematic approach and the model of interpersonal teacher behavior. In this study, the researches used especially QTI are given a place for investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions related to student-teacher interaction. The research reflects on that QTI is one of the few instruments including both interpersonal dimensions of teacher-student relationship and their interpersonal behaviour, thereby, useful for investigating the effects and results on student outcomes at the same time. QTI has shown cross-cultural validity and strong reliability. Research using QTI has become widespread in recent years, and also scale has been translated into different languages in different education contexts. This research summarize the many theoretical points of relevant literature that have informed the study of interpersonal relationships in education for the researchers. For example, QTI which is based on Model of Interpersonal Teacher Circular is discussed with the examples from literature, including: premises of circular models, the model’s graphic representation, the names for its dimensions and scales, and the difficulties when translating the QTI to different languages. Lastly, the research carried out in Turkey in this field is summarized and the developments are discussed.