tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post1057918537660727820..comments2024-03-28T09:22:36.967+13:00Comments on Offsetting Behaviour: Grade deflationEric Cramptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-77044102775295112202015-02-19T13:27:49.348+13:002015-02-19T13:27:49.348+13:00Doubt it. Would make for a potentially fun honours...Doubt it. Would make for a potentially fun honours project though - also check whether difficulty index changes predict enrolment changes the next year.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-78721922817169343122015-02-19T12:28:38.674+13:002015-02-19T12:28:38.674+13:00Has any literature been written about the effects ...Has any literature been written about the effects of the Difficulty Index on grade distribution?Ethan_Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-77768482183167212432014-08-14T16:15:11.717+12:002014-08-14T16:15:11.717+12:00Thanks SeamusThanks SeamusVMCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-85347451080684336512014-08-14T00:40:19.994+12:002014-08-14T00:40:19.994+12:00Interesting post.
Canterbury's system looks g...Interesting post.<br /><br />Canterbury's system looks good. It would be better if you could do a Difficulty Index across departments.<br /><br />I once tried, with the help of an econometrician colleague, to estimate a Difficulty Index across all departments. Grade,i.j = Ability of student i - Difficulty of course j<br />Put all grade data in computer, and listen to the big crunching sound.<br /><br />We got estimates, but the standard errors were too large to be really useful. Because, for example, arts students don't take engineering courses, and too few engineers take arts courses.Nick_Rowenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-8546043978881644172014-08-13T23:17:31.158+12:002014-08-13T23:17:31.158+12:00Imperfect correlation (including negative correlat...Imperfect correlation (including negative correlation) only matters to the extent that there is bunching of what courses are commonly taken together. And then there is a bigger problem, which is that a course is reported as difficult if the students in it are largely from easy grading subjects and vice versa. One of ECON's courses at Canterbury is very popular with Management students, and that leads to some interesting effects on the raw number for difficulty that you can understand only by looking at the more detailed data the university provides on pairwise comparisons between courses.Seamus Hogannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-31641735034375603142014-08-13T22:53:48.246+12:002014-08-13T22:53:48.246+12:00Does the Canterbury difficulty measure take accoun...Does the Canterbury difficulty measure take account of possible inverse correlations (e.g. someone who does well at accounting will almost certainly not do well at a creative subject) or is the assumption that a student who is good at one subject is meant to be good at the lot?VMCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-88108804869969748272014-08-13T21:05:42.966+12:002014-08-13T21:05:42.966+12:00Agree entirely for situations where you need to co...Agree entirely for situations where you need to compare graduates from different schools. If enough students took courses at different universities, maybe you could run a difficulty index that way, but switchers are too likely to be different from other students for that to be very reliable.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-71555993799718010062014-08-13T14:37:25.291+12:002014-08-13T14:37:25.291+12:00You don't. Everybody knows that they're en...You don't. Everybody knows that they're entirely different cohorts and that an A+ student from a poor school will be different from an A+ student at a top school.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-75190253612447567842014-08-13T14:23:51.202+12:002014-08-13T14:23:51.202+12:00How do you normalize for different intake groups? ...How do you normalize for different intake groups? Clearly Princeton has a smarter average student than East Kenucky State...Kennoreply@blogger.com