A review of education measures for social research
A review of education measures for social research
This working paper is a review of issues associated with measuring education and using educational measures in social science research. The review is orientated towards researchers who undertake secondary analyses of large-scale micro-level social science datasets. The paper begins with an outline of important context which impinges upon the measurement of education. The UK is the focus of this review, but similar issues apply to other nation states. We provide a critical introduction to the main approaches to measuring education in social survey research, which include measuring years of education, using categorical qualification-based measures and scaling approaches. We advocate the use of established education measures to better facilitate comparability and replication. We conclude by making the recommendation that researchers place careful thought into which educational measure they select, and that researchers should routinely engage in appropriate sensitivity analyses
ESRC Centre for Population Change
Gayle, Vernon
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Connelly, Roxanne
67ff0d28-15c1-4663-855c-ec4e14104ab2
Lambert, Paul
fb3d9205-b05c-4fb6-907c-47454a98f943
McGowan, Teresa
4524e894-04de-4822-8508-f4b966e12ae2
15 May 2015
Gayle, Vernon
6f166435-39d9-43a2-babd-f5daaf6ae898
Connelly, Roxanne
67ff0d28-15c1-4663-855c-ec4e14104ab2
Lambert, Paul
fb3d9205-b05c-4fb6-907c-47454a98f943
McGowan, Teresa
4524e894-04de-4822-8508-f4b966e12ae2
Gayle, Vernon, Connelly, Roxanne and Lambert, Paul
,
McGowan, Teresa
(ed.)
(2015)
A review of education measures for social research
(ESRC Centre for Population Change Working Papers)
Southampton, GB.
ESRC Centre for Population Change
26pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
This working paper is a review of issues associated with measuring education and using educational measures in social science research. The review is orientated towards researchers who undertake secondary analyses of large-scale micro-level social science datasets. The paper begins with an outline of important context which impinges upon the measurement of education. The UK is the focus of this review, but similar issues apply to other nation states. We provide a critical introduction to the main approaches to measuring education in social survey research, which include measuring years of education, using categorical qualification-based measures and scaling approaches. We advocate the use of established education measures to better facilitate comparability and replication. We conclude by making the recommendation that researchers place careful thought into which educational measure they select, and that researchers should routinely engage in appropriate sensitivity analyses
Text
WP63_2015_A_review_of_education_measures_for_social_research_Gayle_et_al.pdf
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 15 May 2015
Organisations:
Social Statistics & Demography, Centre for Population Change
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 377147
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377147
PURE UUID: 7fdb99c4-4d35-408c-b276-04f29dd9829d
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 22 May 2015 14:40
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:23
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Contributors
Author:
Vernon Gayle
Author:
Roxanne Connelly
Author:
Paul Lambert
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