Pitfalls in aggregating performance measures in higher education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4096475 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ross Williams (0000-0003-1901-1183, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Gaétan De Rassenfosse (0000-0002-7862-0918, The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 51-62 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075079.2014.914912 |
| OpenAlex | W2059201202 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 13 |
National and international rankings of universities are now an accepted part of the higher education landscape. Rankings aggregate different performance measures into a single scale and therefore depend on the methods and weights used to aggregate. The most common method is to scale each variable relative to the highest performing entity prior to aggregating. Other approaches involve transforming the data to allow for the different spread of the variables. This paper evaluates alternative methods and the sensitivity to weights with illustrations from the Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings of universities and the U21 rankings of national systems of higher education. The authors conclude that transforming the data clouds interpretation; the choice of included variables is more important than the weights attached to them; and there are limitations in extending ranking to a large number of universities/countries
Econometrics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Higher education · Information retrieval · Mathematics education · Regional science · Statistics · Computer Science · Higher Education Governance and Development · Mathematics · Artificial Intelligence
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| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |