BSB123 | Research Report Assessment

The data for the Assignment can be found in the file Research Report Graduate Admissions Data.xlsx on Blackboard

The Problem

International Education is a major industry worldwide with countries like Australia, the UK, Canada,the US, Germany, China and Malaysia combined accepting hundreds of thousands or international students each year. This is particularly true in the post graduate education space.

Globally there are many companies that act as agents for international students wanting to gain admissions to programs in other countries. Global Education Services (GES) is one such company and it is paricularly interested in the most important factors impacting admissions to graduate programs in the United States.

GES collected data on 500 students, which they then provided to admissions offices across a range of institutions for a response on the likelihood of admission. Responses from the various universities were gathered and used to determine a Chance of Admission score for each student.

Information was collected on 10 variables with a snapshot of the data set provided in the table below. Note the full data set which you should use is given in the Excel Spreadsheet provided:

• Chance of Admit - % rating with the higher the number the greater the chance of acceptance
• GRE Score – US college entrance score
• TOEFL Score – English language test score
• University Rating – Rating assessment of the university in which the student did their bachelor’s degree – 5 is highest.
• Interview Score – out of 20
• Letter of Recommendation – Yes or No
• CGPA – Adjusted Bachelors GPA out of 10
• Research – did the Bachelo’rs degree require a research project, Yes or No
• Gender – Male or Female
• Region – Did student come from a nearby Region - Americas or Other

You have been asked to provide a report to GES on the most important factors in obtaining admission in order for them to better advise students

GRE Scores

Globally the mean GRE score is 306 with a standard deviation of 11. Global Education Services (GES) believes that international students are a special group when it comes to GRE. Whereas every US student interested in entering graduate programs will undertake the GRE, International students are more selective because they have to pay for applications and hence they need to be more confident about their results. As such GES is of the opinion that international students are likely to have a better performance on the GRE and a more consistent one.

1. Describe in detail the GRE results for international students using appropriate numerical and graphical methods.

(7 Marks)

2. Conduct a test to determine if the average GRE result for international students is higher than the global mean of 306.

(5 Marks)

3. Conduct at test to see if the consistency of international students on the GRE is better than the global average – i.e. the variance is lower.

(5 Marks)

4. It is reasonable to expect that performance on the GRE and the Chance of Admission would be related to each other. Construct a graph relating GRE and Chance of Admission and calculate an approriate statistic to help describe the relationship between the two variables. Briefly describe the relationship.

(5 Marks)

5. Based on Questions 1. to 4. briefly indicate if you believe GES’s opinion of International Student performance on the GRE is correct including the reason why.

(3 Marks)

Projects

As countries have moved to increase the number of students undertaking Bachelor Degree programs pressure has come on many institutions to reduce or remove the major research project requirement for students at undergraduate level.

6. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of universities which now require a major research project for graduation. If 60% of universities used to require a research project what does this imply about the proposition that institutions are removing the research requirement.

(5 Marks)

7. Conduct a test at the 5% level of significance to see if the proportion of universities requiring projects has fallen.

(5 Marks)

8. Compare the results in part 6. and 7. Which is the better result to use and why.

(2 Marks)

Chance of Admission

9. While we would hope that there was no bias in admissions test at the 10% level of significance if the average chance of admission is different between Males and Females. Make sure you undertake all checks and tests necessary in order to be able to conduct this test.

(8 Marks)

10. Conduct a regression analysis to determine which factors affect a students chance of admission. In undertaking the analysis do this in three steps:
11. Regress all variables and conduct all tests necessary to determine which variables should be included in an optimal model.
12. Re-estimate your chosen model from a. Interpret all necessary statistics and conduct all necessary tests.
13. State your estimated equation and interpret the coefficent of the first and last variable you have included. Use the estimated equation to predict the chance of admission for a Male student from Brazil with a CGPA of 8.5, a TOEFL of 110, a GRE of 320, no letter of recommendation, an interview score of 15 and who came from a mid rated (level 3) university which did not require a research project.

(20 Marks)

Summary Report

11. Write a brief report to GES describing what you have found in non-technical The report can be no longer than 200 words. Include your recommendations on the most important things to advise prospective international students.

(5 Marks)

(70 Total Marks)

In answering all questions:

• Make sure you include any assumptions that are necessary.
• Wherever possible conduct tests to back up your answers or use of procedures.
• Ensure that you include any relevant Excel results as part of your analysis.

Submission Instructions

• You should submit your response to as a single pdf documentsaved in the format: pdf. 
• Keep, but do not submit your Excel file. If required I will contact you directly for this file
• Submit your assignment through the link in Blackboard
• After uploading your research report, it is your responsibility to go back into the TurnItIn submission item to check that your report was properly uploaded. Make sure that you record all details in the submission receipt. I recommend taking a snapshot on your phone for records.
• If you encounter any technical problem during submission, you are strongly advised to email me your attempt before the due date and time.
• This assessment is due by 11:59pm on Sunday 24^th Late submissions without approval will attract the usual QUT penalties.
• For more information go to: https://qutvirtual4.qut.edu.au/group/student/study/assignments/submitting/late-assignments-and-extensions