An education agent is a third-party entity who is paid to assist a student to find, apply to, and/or prepare for college. In China, agents are often hired to assist students in finding an international institution fitting their academic goals. Although using an agent has been a common practice in China, there is virtually no research regarding the…

International student mobility is a rapidly growing and evolving phenomenon. During the 2008/09 academic year, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the U.S. increased by 8% to a record high of 671,616 students with about 15% from mainland China. The model of college choice for Chinese students who are considering…

Selecting a single psychotherapeutic orientation can be a challenge for counselor education students. The authors examined the relationship between counseling theory selection and personality variables of students enrolled in a counseling theories course. A discriminant function analysis was used to identify the personality traits that would…

While surveys have identified instructional design competencies, there has been virtually no systematic research of alternative means for assessing professional competence in this area. This paper reports on a study which investigated the question of whether a multiple-choice, paper and pencil test can validly discriminate between levels of…

Illustrates the use of discriminant analysis to identify the background factors among accepted applicants that best predict actual attendance. An illustration for MBA programs at the University of Hawaii showed the applicant's residence and tuition status were the best predictors. (JAC)

Discriminant analysis was used to identify variables predictive of success in the computerized National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses with data from 289 nursing graduates. Using seven significant predictors, 94% of passes and 92% of failures were correctly identified. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

The use of multiple regression analysis was compared to the use of discriminant function analysis in the prediction of college faculty rank. The multiple regression technique was shown to be generally superior in this instance. (JKS)

The Mahalanobis distance model was compared with the linear discriminant function model and found to provide very similar results, even when a number of the variables were binary. A group of college freshmen were categorized into two groups: 116 "leavers," students who did not return for the second year, and 269 "returners."…

Methods for ordering and selecting variables for discriminant analysis in multiple group comparison or group prediction studies include: univariate Fs, stepwise analysis, learning discriminant function (LDF) variable correlations, communalities, LDF standardized coefficients, and weighted standardized coefficients. Five indices based on distance,…

Discriminant function analysis was used to predict which college students were graduated in four years, were still enrolled after four years, left the college in good academic standing, or left after being on probation. Results were moderately successful. (Author/JKS)

A four-variable equation to predict administrative effectiveness of academic deans was derived from 17 variables by discriminant analysis. The study objective was to validate four indicators of administrator effectiveness. If the four variables were found to discriminate between effective and ineffective deans, search-screening committees could…

An alternative approach for program evaluation of small, specialized programs when comparison groups are not available is described. This application is illustrated by presenting the results of an analysis of data from Project Talent, a national manpower study, and discussing its application to the evaluation of a medical training program.…

The extent to which successful completion of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree could be predicted from readily available admissions data was examined. Results of the discriminant analysis showed that the two criterion groups (graduates and nongraduates) could be differentiated. (Author/GK)

Describes a study that examined quantifiable characteristics of library schools to construct a model that predicts a judgment of perceived quality of library schools. Two perception studies conducted by Herbert White are discussed, statistical methods used are explained, and recommendations for further research are given. (34 references) (LRW)

The use of discriminant analysis in identifying potentially "good" versus potentially "bad" student loans is explained. The technique is applied to a sample of 200 student loan applications at the University of Wyoming. (LBH)