[Unistats] stats reporting - of apples and oranges

[Chan, John]

Dear colleagues

There appear two tiers of issues in relation to the emails circulated on
this topic today.  One is the useability of the preliminary estimates while
other on the basis of comparison.
Useability of the collection:  
The AVCC did make a representation to the Department of the Education,
Science and Training (DEST) in 2000 expressing concern with the preliminary
estimates in that 
(i) these figures were early estimates and incomplete;
(ii) these are figures provided to Government by universities and the issue
of the due date by which complete and accurate figures can be provided and
(iii) AVCC's strong reservations about them.

DEST decided to continue with this collection despite its shortcoming.
The fact of the matter is that the outcomes of this collection are used and
continued to be used by the Government.
Basis of comparison:
According to the Annual data requirement document released by DEST for both
2001 and 2002, the student load data for tables 2 and 3 of the Collection of
Preliminary Estimates are comparable. 
"Those requirements mean that the student load reported would relate to:
(a) all semesters for which records are in the file, including those coded
"1", "2", "3", "4" and "5" on Element 353 (Semester in which the load occurs
code);"
Notwithstanding the above, it is acknowledged that there was some
inconsistency in using the head counts from the 2001 early estimates.  If
the Preliminary 2001 data (sub 1 based) was used, the student number would
be even lower.
Had the final student load been published, the comparison would definitely
be firmer.    However, this still wouldn't satisfy those factions that
consider the different due date of submission is an issue.
In other words, I don't think there is a perfect way to make such comparison
statistically speaking, particularly given the data available in the public
domain at this stage.
Cheers
John 
Director, Resource Analysis
Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee
The Council of Australia's University Presidents
One Geils Court, Deakin, ACT, 2601
Ph. (02) 6285 8209  Fax (02) 6285 8211
Email: john.chan@avcc.edu.au 
http://www.avcc.edu.au