Needs Assessment Phase II by James W Altschuld

Author:James W Altschuld [Altschuld, James W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Research, Reference
ISBN: 9781544340401
Google: petTDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2009-07-30T03:36:03+00:00

An example of a parallel situation is school graduation rates. In some areas they may not be accurate because those who dropped out have been incorrectly counted in the denominator of the fraction. Test results of seniors in these districts appear elevated due to weaker students no longer being there, thus portraying a potentially misleading state of affairs. See Example 4.1.

Example 4.1

From Where Do Numbers Come?

Members of an upper–middle-class suburb were aghast that they had been outperformed by the large, less well-to-do, more ethnically diverse, urban district in the area on a specialized and prestigious statewide testing program in mathematics. How could this have happened?

One possible explanation came from the actual numbers participating. The urban district, although 10 times larger, had about one fifth of the number of students from the suburb taking the test. Perhaps the best students from the former were tested whereas a much broader range of individuals in the suburb took part.

In other words, in one district the students may have been “skimmed” for the test, and in the other all students may have been encouraged to take it. We should not necessarily be skeptical of numbers, but at the same time that should not deter us from inquiring about how data were generated— from whence did they come?

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