New rules, new tools: Predicting academic achievement in college admissions

Anna Susanna Maria Niessen

New rules, new tools: Predicting academic achievement in college admissions

Vertaalde titel van de bijdrage: Studiesucces voorspellen in toelatingsprocedures voor het hoger onderwijs

Anna Susanna Maria Niessen

Psychometrics and Statistics

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In de toelating tot het hoger onderwijs wordt sinds kort via decentrale selectie of matching gekeken of studenten bij een studie passen. Net zoals bij de selectie van personeel worden veel beslissingen genomen op basis van intuïtie en ontbreekt vaak een goede verantwoording. De centrale vraag in dit proefschrift was dan ook: Hoe kunnen we studenten het beste selecteren?

Ik laat zien dat:
(1) het gebruik van vragenlijsten om persoonlijkheid en motivatie te meten niet werkt bij selectie omdat studenten deze vragenlijsten sociaal wenselijk invullen. Ik concludeer dat motivatie en persoonlijkheid heel lastig te meten zijn in selectiesituaties.
(2) de beste manier op studenten te selecteren is om ze een toets te geven die lijkt op wat ze later in hun studie moeten gaan doen, ook wel proefstuderen genoemd. Niet alleen blijkt proefstuderen goed te voorspellen wie later ook goede studieresultaten haalt, het geeft aspirant-studenten ook inzicht in of de studie bij ze past. Proefstudeertoetsen werden daarnaast zeer gewaardeerd door aspirant-studenten, terwijl loting en het gebruik van middelbare schoolcijfers niet gewaardeerd werden.
(3) het effect van selectie op het studiesucces voor de meeste studieprogramma’s in Nederland echter klein is. Dat komt doordat de meeste studieprogramma’s maar een klein percentage van de aspirant-studenten afwijzen en de meerderheid van de aanmelders ‘geschikt’ zijn voor de studie.

Een grote uitdaging bij het realiseren van effectieve en eerlijke selectiebeslissingen in het onderwijs en in het bedrijfsleven is om weerstand te bieden tegen het vertrouwen in onze intuïties. Er dient veel meer gebruik te worden gemaakt van wetenschappelijke kennis uit de selectiepsychologie.

Vertaalde titel van de bijdrage	Studiesucces voorspellen in toelatingsprocedures voor het hoger onderwijs
Originele taal-2	English
Kwalificatie	Doctor of Philosophy
Toekennende instantie	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Begeleider(s)/adviseur	Meijer, Rob, Supervisor Tendeiro, Jorge, Co-supervisor Dijkstra, Jacob, Co-supervisor
Datum van toekenning	15-feb.-2018
Plaats van publicatie	[Groningen]
Uitgever	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Gedrukte ISBN's	978-94-034-0385-4
Elektronische ISBN's	978-94-034-0384-7
Status	Published - 2018

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Title and contentsFinal publisher's version, 156 KB
Chapter 1Final publisher's version, 330 KB
Chapter 2Final publisher's version, 530 KB
Chapter 3Final publisher's version, 748 KB
Chapter 4Final publisher's version, 581 KB
Chapter 5Final publisher's version, 535 KB
Chapter 6Final publisher's version, 610 KB
Chapter 7Final publisher's version, 394 KB
Chapter 8Final publisher's version, 334 KB
Chapter 9Final publisher's version, 620 KB
Chapter 10Final publisher's version, 837 KB
AppendicesFinal publisher's version, 738 KB
Complete thesisFinal publisher's version, 3,67 MB
PropositionsFinal publisher's version, 218 KB

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title = "New rules, new tools: Predicting academic achievement in college admissions",

abstract = "Admission procedures for higher education aim to assess the fit between students and programs through selection or matching procedures. Just as in personnel selection, decisions are commonly made based on intuition and often lack scientific support. So, the central question in this thesis was: How should we select students?I showed that:(1) Using questionnaires to measure personality and motivation does not work in selection, because of socially-desirable responding by the applicants. I conclude that motivation and personality are very difficult to measure in selection contexts and that no solution is available yet.(2) The best method to select students is to give them tasks that are highly similar to what they would have to do in the study program they apply to, also referred to as curriculum sampling. Curriculum samples predicted academic achievement well, and provide applicants with insight into their fit to the program. In addition, applicants appreciated the use of curriculum samples, while the use of lottery and high school grades was not appreciated.(3) However, even if valid methods are used, the effects of selection on study performance are small when most applicants are suitable and few are rejected, as is the case for most Dutch higher education programs. A major challenge in establishing effective and fair selection decisions in education and in organizations is to overcome the reliance on intuitions and gut feelings; Scientific knowledge based on selection psychology should be utilized in practice much more.",

author = "Niessen, {Anna Susanna Maria}",

year = "2018",

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N2 - Admission procedures for higher education aim to assess the fit between students and programs through selection or matching procedures. Just as in personnel selection, decisions are commonly made based on intuition and often lack scientific support. So, the central question in this thesis was: How should we select students?I showed that:(1) Using questionnaires to measure personality and motivation does not work in selection, because of socially-desirable responding by the applicants. I conclude that motivation and personality are very difficult to measure in selection contexts and that no solution is available yet.(2) The best method to select students is to give them tasks that are highly similar to what they would have to do in the study program they apply to, also referred to as curriculum sampling. Curriculum samples predicted academic achievement well, and provide applicants with insight into their fit to the program. In addition, applicants appreciated the use of curriculum samples, while the use of lottery and high school grades was not appreciated.(3) However, even if valid methods are used, the effects of selection on study performance are small when most applicants are suitable and few are rejected, as is the case for most Dutch higher education programs. A major challenge in establishing effective and fair selection decisions in education and in organizations is to overcome the reliance on intuitions and gut feelings; Scientific knowledge based on selection psychology should be utilized in practice much more.

AB - Admission procedures for higher education aim to assess the fit between students and programs through selection or matching procedures. Just as in personnel selection, decisions are commonly made based on intuition and often lack scientific support. So, the central question in this thesis was: How should we select students?I showed that:(1) Using questionnaires to measure personality and motivation does not work in selection, because of socially-desirable responding by the applicants. I conclude that motivation and personality are very difficult to measure in selection contexts and that no solution is available yet.(2) The best method to select students is to give them tasks that are highly similar to what they would have to do in the study program they apply to, also referred to as curriculum sampling. Curriculum samples predicted academic achievement well, and provide applicants with insight into their fit to the program. In addition, applicants appreciated the use of curriculum samples, while the use of lottery and high school grades was not appreciated.(3) However, even if valid methods are used, the effects of selection on study performance are small when most applicants are suitable and few are rejected, as is the case for most Dutch higher education programs. A major challenge in establishing effective and fair selection decisions in education and in organizations is to overcome the reliance on intuitions and gut feelings; Scientific knowledge based on selection psychology should be utilized in practice much more.

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SN - 978-94-034-0385-4

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New rules, new tools: Predicting academic achievement in college admissions

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