College Admission-Selection Studies

Abstract

testing by standardized aptitude and achievement examinations sponsored by regional or national associations became an accepted part of the admission-selection process, though this fact was not entirely due to the greater number of applications or the practice of selective admission. More testing has naturally resulted in more studies of the validity of the examining instruments and of the admission or guidance procedures; in addition, a number of such studies are attributable to colleges that have long practiced such procedures, but who have come to devote increasing attention to both technical perfection and philosophical justification in the light of the continued increase in number of applications. College admission-selection studies have therefore become more interrelated with theory and research in psychometrics, the social sciences, and educational psychology and philosophy. The usual research design is that of correlation and regression, in which one or more predictors (measures taken previous to college admission) attempt to approximate one or more criteria (measures taken after the completion of one or more semesters of college attendance). The degree of predictive approximation to the criteria that is attained upon a relatively unselected group of applicants is taken as an indication of the efficiency of the particular set of predictors employed. It has become accepted to designate predictors and criteria as dealing with either intellective characteristics (aptitude-achievement test scores or course marks) or nonintellective characteristics (personality and motivational and attitudinal measures) of individuals. Since admission-selection studies may