IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jorssa/v169y2006i2p361-379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of Irish third‐level college applications data

Author

Listed:
  • Isobel Claire Gormley
  • Thomas Brendan Murphy

Abstract

Summary. The Irish college admissions system involves prospective students listing up to 10 courses in order of preference on their application. Places in third‐level educational institutions are subsequently offered to the applicants on the basis of both their preferences and their final second‐level examination results. The college applications system is a large area of public debate in Ireland. Detractors suggest that the process creates artificial demand for ‘high profile’ courses, causing applicants to ignore their vocational callings. Supporters argue that the system is impartial and transparent. The Irish college degree applications data from the year 2000 are analysed by using mixture models based on ranked data models to investigate the types of application behaviour that are exhibited by college applicants. The results of this analysis show that applicants form groups according to both the discipline and the geographical location of their course choices. In addition, there is evidence of the suggested ‘points race’ for high profile courses. Finally, gender emerges as an influential factor when studying course choice behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Isobel Claire Gormley & Thomas Brendan Murphy, 2006. "Analysis of Irish third‐level college applications data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 169(2), pages 361-379, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:169:y:2006:i:2:p:361-379
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00412.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00412.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00412.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387, October.
    2. Murphy, Thomas Brendan & Martin, Donal, 2003. "Mixtures of distance-based models for ranking data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-4), pages 645-655, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Delaney, Liam & Harmon, Colm & Redmond, Cathy, 2011. "Parental education, grade attainment and earnings expectations among university students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1136-1152.
    2. Keane, Michael & Ketcham, Jonathan & Kuminoff, Nicolai & Neal, Timothy, 2021. "Evaluating consumers’ choices of Medicare Part D plans: A study in behavioral welfare economics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 222(1), pages 107-140.
    3. Denny, Kevin & Doyle, Orla & McMullin, Patricia & O'Sullivan, Vincent, 2014. "Money, mentoring and making friends: The impact of a multidimensional access program on student performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 167-182.
    4. Mark S. Handcock & Adrian E. Raftery & Jeremy M. Tantrum, 2007. "Model‐based clustering for social networks," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(2), pages 301-354, March.
    5. Lee, Paul H. & Yu, Philip L.H., 2012. "Mixtures of weighted distance-based models for ranking data with applications in political studies," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 2486-2500.
    6. Volodymyr Melnykov, 2013. "Finite mixture modelling in mass spectrometry analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 62(4), pages 573-592, August.
    7. Liam Delaney & Colm Harmon & Cathy Redmond, 2010. "Parental Education, Grade Attainment & Earnings Expectations among University Students," Working Papers 201035, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    8. Cristina Mollica & Luca Tardella, 2017. "Bayesian Plackett–Luce Mixture Models for Partially Ranked Data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 82(2), pages 442-458, June.
    9. Biernacki, Christophe & Jacques, Julien, 2013. "A generative model for rank data based on insertion sort algorithm," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 162-176.
    10. François Caron & Emily B. Fox, 2017. "Sparse graphs using exchangeable random measures," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1295-1366, November.
    11. Cristina Mollica & Luca Tardella, 2021. "Bayesian analysis of ranking data with the Extended Plackett–Luce model," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 30(1), pages 175-194, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee, Paul H. & Yu, Philip L.H., 2010. "Distance-based tree models for ranking data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1672-1682, June.
    2. Zhifeng Gao & Ted C. Schroeder, 2009. "Consumer responses to new food quality information: are some consumers more sensitive than others?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 339-346, May.
    3. Cheng, Leilei & Yin, Changbin & Chien, Hsiaoping, 2015. "Demand for milk quantity and safety in urban China: evidence from Beijing and Harbin," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(2), April.
    4. Wen, Chieh-Hua & Huang, Chia-Jung & Fu, Chiang, 2020. "Incorporating continuous representation of preferences for flight departure times into stated itinerary choice modeling," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 10-20.
    5. Johannes Buggle & Thierry Mayer & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Mathias Thoenig, 2023. "The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 1273-1345.
    6. Christelis, Dimitris & Dobrescu, Loretti I. & Motta, Alberto, 2020. "Early life conditions and financial risk-taking in older age," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    7. Ortega, David L. & Wang, H. Holly & Wu, Laping & Hong, Soo Jeong, 2015. "Retail channel and consumer demand for food quality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 359-366.
    8. Tina Birgitte Hansen & Jes Sanddal Lindholt & Axel Diederichsen & Rikke Søgaard, 2019. "Do Non-participants at Screening have a Different Threshold for an Acceptable Benefit–Harm Ratio than Participants? Results of a Discrete Choice Experiment," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 12(5), pages 491-501, October.
    9. Doyle, Orla & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2006. "Who favors enlargement?: Determinants of support for EU membership in the candidate countries' referenda," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 520-543, June.
    10. Tovar, Jorge, 2012. "Consumers’ Welfare and Trade Liberalization: Evidence from the Car Industry in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 808-820.
    11. Pereira, Pedro & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2011. "The impact on broadband access to the Internet of the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 283-293, March.
    12. Yamada, Katsunori & Sato, Masayuki, 2013. "Another avenue for anatomy of income comparisons: Evidence from hypothetical choice experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 35-57.
    13. Potoglou, Dimitris & Palacios, Juan & Feijoo, Claudio & Gómez Barroso, Jose-Luis, 2015. "The supply of personal information: A study on the determinants of information provision in e-commerce scenarios," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127174, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    14. Sant'Anna, Ana Claudia & Bergtold, Jason & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Caldas, Marcellus & Granco, Gabriel, 2021. "Deal or No Deal? Analysis of Bioenergy Feedstock Contract Choice with Multiple Opt-out Options and Contract Attribute Substitutability," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315289, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Mark Morrison & Craig Nalder, 2009. "Willingness to Pay for Improved Quality of Electricity Supply Across Business Type and Location," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(2), pages 117-134, April.
    16. Simon P. Anderson & André de Palma, 2012. "Competition for attention in the Information (overload) Age," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 1-25, March.
    17. Mtimet, Nadhem & Ujiie, Kiyokazu & Kashiwagi, Kenichi & Zaibet, Lokman & Nagaki, Masakazu, 2011. "The effects of Information and Country of Origin on Japanese Olive Oil Consumer Selection," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114642, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Chavez, Daniel E. & Palma, Marco A. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Mjelde, James W., 2020. "Product availability in discrete choice experiments with private goods," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    19. Boyce, Christopher & Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Hanley, Nick, 2019. "Personality and economic choices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 82-100.
    20. Choi, Andy S., 2013. "Nonmarket values of major resources in the Korean DMZ areas: A test of distance decay," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 97-107.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:169:y:2006:i:2:p:361-379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rssssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.