You can find data analysis, summaries, reports and other informative documents on education at LSE below.
Abstract
Analysis of student marks on undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses found associations between the ways that students are assessed and their outcomes. Using a mixed-effects linear regression model and controlling for student characteristics, we found that students on both qualitative and quantitative courses experienced worse outcomes when being assessed by terminal exam (in-person or take-home) than by other forms of assessment. We also found correlations between certain student characteristics and worse exam performance, suggesting that there may be systematic variation in students’ ability to demonstrate their learning with an exam-type assessment.
Abstract
This report considers unexplained increases in the proportion of first- and upper second-class marks awarded to Home UK undergraduates on courses at LSE over a ten year period. It applies existing techniques used to estimate such increases in final degree awards, and finds that, despite heterogeneity across modules and departments, there is a considerable increase in first- and upper second-class marks in 2019-20. It also finds that quantitative courses tend to experience higher ‘grade inflation’ for upper classifications, while qualitative courses exhibit a more discernible upward trend in relation to first-class marks. The analysis further identifies that the rate of ‘unexplained’ change is different for different groups of LSE students, suggesting that some of the change may relate to more inclusive teaching and assessment at LSE.
Abstract
This report explores undergraduate and taught postgraduate experiences during 2020/21 by analysing qualitative responses to open-ended questions asked during programme level surveys. Student comments were coded against a theme or multiple themes and then categorised using an inductive approach – in other words, the codes and themes emerged from the students’ own reporting of their experiences. A total of 5202 respondents across 3 surveys contributed to the analysis presented in this report, which seeks to document student experience as students themselves describe it.
Abstract
This analysis provides an overview of the relationship between ‘core’ modules and student satisfaction on undergraduate LSE programmes. It uses a linear regression model to see how the number of core modules in a student’s ‘home’ department (the department that hosts a programme) and the number of core modules in an ‘outside’ department (any other department) affect a range of student satisfaction measures across all years of undergraduate studies.
Abstract
This paper explores patterns in student satisfaction based on the Year 1 and Year 2 undergraduate programme surveys at LSE in 2019. The first element of the research uses a mixed effect logistic regression model to explore student demographic characteristics that appear to influence different dimensions of ‘satisfaction’ within the survey. The second element uses a dependence analysis based on the polychoric correlation to identify the questions which have the strongest relationship to each other – where a change in satisfaction on one question could be expected to lead to a similar change on another question. The papers present an overview and more detailed report of the findings.
Abstract
These papers track analysis of the grade awarding gap at module level at LSE. The first paper analyses outcomes for Home UK undergraduates between 2014/15 - 2018/19, and the update covers new analysis for 2019/20. Previous work at LSE, and in the sector as a whole, has focused on final degree outcomes. However, teaching on an LSE programme often occurs outside the student’s home department, meaning that it may not be possible for the awarding department to fully address systemic differences in outcomes. The linear mixed model allows us to control for different student characteristics and thereby achieve a more nuanced understanding of what underlies the grade awarding gaps we see in student outcomes. For full department-level findings please see the Tableau dashboards available here.
Abstract
This report replicates and extends an Office for Students study that considers unexplained increases in the proportion of first- and upper second-class degrees awarded by UK universities over a ten year period. It finds that, controlling for student characteristics, grade inflation becomes noticeable at LSE starting in the academic year 2014/15, but that inflation at LSE remains lower than that within the sector as a whole. The study also extends the analysis to look at grade inflation at the departmental level, and finds that unexplained increases in awards are heterogeneous across departments within LSE.