Coordinating market and evaluation research on the Admissions rating process

A research program is suggested that integrates Admissions procedures and methods of statistical analysis to study the first stage of the Admissions selection process: the rating of applicants. To form the base for evaluation research, a systematic procedure is described that provides an index of applicant quality in the light of institutional goals. Then the rating process itself is explored using a Path Model to measure the contributions of background and achieved characteristics of applicants to their rating. How questions of bias may be raised and pursued is discussed. Applicants are profiled in segments to show how the effects of policy adjustments may be monitored. For doing marketing research, quality-by-enrollment status segments are defined. Using factor analysis models, an analysis of image variance is applied. Next, a discriminant analysis is used to isolate those institutional attributes that most influence higher quality applicants to enroll. Some specifics of a differentiated policy are given in examples. Implications of this integrated approach are discussed.Presented at the Twentieth Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Atlanta, May 1980.