Non-Comparability of Female and Male Admission Test Takers. Evaluation throughFollow-Up

摘要

The purpose of the study is to investigate the possible differential selection tothe Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) to see whether the gender differences in results on the SweSAT may, to some extent, be explained by initial differences in achievement between the male and female SweSAT takers. The empirical results consistently showed that male SweSAT takers constituted a more strongly selected group with respect to ability and previous school achievement than did female SweSaT takers. Thus, within the areas where females excelled initially, the selection effect decreased their advantage among the SweSAT takers. Within the areas where males excelled, the selection effect increased their advantage among the SweSAT takers. These results show that we cannot assume that selected and self-selected groups are comparable. Thereby, it is argued that it is essential to take the differential selection effects into account.