British educational trajectories from school to university

Evaluating Quantitative Evidence in Policy Formulation and Justification

Bibliographic Data

ID6326309
AuthorsRon Johnston (0000-0003-3031-8573, University of Bristol), David Manley (0000-0003-1864-5141, University of Bristol), Kelvyn Jones (0000-0001-8398-2190, University of Bristol), Anthony Hoare (University of Bristol), Richard Harris (0000-0001-7943-9005, University of Bristol)
Year2017
Volume45
Issue2
Pages137-155
Publication date2017-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolicy & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-5736 • E-ISSN: 1470-8442
PublisherBristol University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/030557316x14598535404750
OpenAlexW2301264897
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited2

The increasing volume of available ‘big data’ contains great potential for public policy to be evidence-based – as long as they are properly analysed and fully appreciated. This paper examines a case where that did not happen, and as a consequence an ideological-driven policy change was supported by a poor analysis of the available data. Using the same data, analyses employing a novel procedure falsify the government’s arguments: many well-qualified students for courses in the country’s leading universities may not be offered places there in the absence of data on their academic progress during their two years of post-secondary education

Big data · Data mining · Economics · Education policy · Government (linguistics · Higher education · Ideology · Mathematics education · Policy analysis · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public economics · Public policy · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Law · Psychology · Public Administration

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