BY QUENTIN LOGAN &
JAMES JUICE
MBA 512: BUSINESS RESEARCH AND DESIGNS METHODS
Does Standardized Testing Predict the Quality of MBA Students?
Background Information
There is much debate in the education realm as to whether standardized tests can predict the quality or success of a student
We found an article that looked at Graduate Tests (GMAT) and it found that the GMAT is a good predictor of the quality of students
GMAT and GRE’s are the official standardized tests that are accepted by MBA programs in the state of Pennsylvania.
Background Information
Over 4,000 schools nationwide use these test for admissions
GMAT- Graduate Management Admission TestGRE- Graduate Records ExaminationGMAT’s are more widely accepted for
admissions into Business School.GRE are more widely accepted for admission
into Graduate programs and often have subject tests associated with them (i.e. Psychology) GRE = $140 GMAT = $250
Background Information
Scoring well on standardized test can boost a below average GPA when applying for admission into an MBA program
There are concerns of the validity of these standardized tests
Most schools say that standardized test along with undergraduate GPA’s are good predictors of the quality of future students
Important factors to consider in our research
GenderGRE and/or GMAT requiredAverage Undergraduate GPAAverage Graduate GPAFull to Part-time ratiosAverage Test Scores required for admissionQuality of Students
Research QuestionDoes taking standardized tests improve or
predict the quality of current and graduate MBA students?
Research HypothesisCompetition between GRE and GMAT continues
to thrive in the Graduate Business schools. We believe that although there is much debate about the validity of these Standardized tests, those who take them and are enrolled in institutions that require them, are better quality students and the overall learning experience is superior
Research Question
Major Questions
What are faculty’s perception of the GRE and GMAT?
Does requiring a test score impact the quality of students?
Should Wilkes University require the GRE or GMAT for admission into the MBA program?
Our Survey
Target Audience
Our target audience was faculty of MBA programs in Pennsylvania. We chose Faculty because be believe that they have the
best insight into quality of students Graduate Students might be bias
We sent out e-mails to 42 universities in PA which have MBA programs
Our original goal was to find one or two e-mail addresses from these schools and ask those recipients to forward it
Revised Goal = 10 names from each institution (420 faculty)
Survey
We hoped to get at least 50 respondents to our short, quick and easy survey
Survey administered via email with a link attached
Our survey was hosted on Google DocumentsOriginal goal was 420. We sent out close to
1,200 emails with our survey link includedResponse rate was very low (28)
Approx. 2.3% response rate
Sources of Error
Our link via email
Spam Filters
Faculty members unclear about directions
Survey Questions
o Multiple Choiceo What is your gender?o Is the GRE or GMAT required at your institution?o What is the average GPA of a incoming student?o Have you always required the GMAT or GRE
o Scaleo Standardized tests are a good indicator of student
quality?o Standardized tests are a good indicator of student
success?o Potential income is directly related to performance on
standardized tests?
Our Data
Our Data
Data Preparation
Female Male0
5
10
15
20
25Gender
Total
Total number of respondents was 28; 7 of which were female and the other 21 males.
Female Male0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Gender by Faculty Po-sition
Adjunct/InstructorAssistant ProfessorAssociate ProfessorFull Professor
Graph representing the respondents to our survey by gender and faculty position. 16 of which were full professors, 9 associate professors, 2 assistant professors and 1 adjunct professor.
MBA Students Average GPA
3.0-3.25 3.26-3.50 3.51-3.75 3.76-4.0 Don't Know
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Graduate
Total
3.0-3.25 3.26-3.50 3.51-3.75 Don't Know0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Undergraduate
Total
The graphs represent the average undergraduate and graduate GPA’s of MBA students. We see that there is an increase in GPAs from the undergraduate to graduate.
Data Preparation
25%
75%
Schools requiring Standardized Tests for Admissions
No Yes
This graph represents the number of schools who require or don’t require GMAT’s or GRE’s for admission. Based on the graph 25% do not require GMAT’s or GRE’s and 75% do require GMAT’s or GRE’s for admissions.
University No YES Not Applicable
York College of PA 1Wilkes University 1 1 1
Waynesburg University 1University of Pittsburgh 2Penn State Harrisburg 1
Lebanon Valley College 1LaSalle University 2 1
Kutztown University 2 2Indiana University of PA 1 1 1
Gannon University 1Duquesne University 1 2
Bloomsburg 1 1 1Arcadia University 1
Grand Total 9 12 7
Do you think the quality of students has or will increase with these test requirements?
Two Sample Proportion Test
Correlations
We noticed that these variables were all correlated and we tested them to see if they were similar
Here we see that there are 5 important correlations to think about. Incoming GPA compared to Graduating GPA, Quality Indicator , Success Indicator and Part-Time. Tenure and Part-Time also seem to be correlated.
Reliability Statistics
We found that with our scale data about quality, success and income, respondents answered these questions the same and we had a Cronbach’s Alpha to prove it.
So we created another variable that actually encompassed the other four and we called it Total Success.
Regression
In this regression, we looked at whether standardized tests have an impact on these factors. This table shows a few important variables. The first variable is the ANOVA significance F which tells us that our model is not significant and when we look at the P-values, there are no significant values either.
Standardized Tests
Two-Sample Mean Test Example
Two-Sample t-test of Standardized Test
This two sample mean test looks at whether there is a difference in the listed variables and whether or not the institution requires a standardize test for acceptance. We can not reject the null hypothesis and we believe there is no significant difference between having standardized tests and all these variables.
Faculty
Incoming GPA
Above are two different ANOVA’s. The ANOVA on the left, shows that for Faculty, there is no significant effect on all these variables except part-time. Interesting enough, for the ANOVA on
the right, which looks at the Incoming GPA, there are 4 significant effects on part-time percentage, GPA of Graduates, Quality and Success.
Conclusions
From a faculty perspective, standardized testing did not have any significant effect on quality or success of MBA students based on our population
Incoming GPA did have a significant effect on Graduating GPA and % of part-time students
We also saw that incoming GPA had a “significant effect” on quality and success
Conclusions
Requiring standardized test does not indicate higher quality of students
GRE’s are being accepted more and more across business programs, however, we would recommend that Wilkes continue to not require standardize testing for admission
The validity for standardized testing will always be questioned
Recommendations
Based on our data, if this research was to be continued, we recommend surveying more faculty from universities all over the nation
Pursue alternate ways to administer the survey to faculty besides through e-mail and electronic surveys
Consider a different target audience other than MBA Faculty
Add more in-depth questions
Impacts
Research QuestionDoes taking standardized tests improve or predict
the quality of current and graduate MBA students? Based on our research, we believe that Faculty
members have an incredible vantage point on the quality of students and the use of standardized tests is not critical in determining if students will succeed or fail in an MBA program With this initial research, if our results remain the same,
institutions should consider reducing the weight that these standardized tests hold in their admissions process
Questions
?
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