Lots of information is not necessarily a good thing for prospective students
I’ve written before about concerns about too much data and the importance of quality rather than just quantity in the information provided to applicants to higher education.
Now a new HEFCE report on Improving information for prospective students has come to a similar conclusion.
The report summarises existing research into decision-making behaviour and comes to some interesting conclusion:
Relevant research was identified across a wide range of disciplines, including information science, cognitive and behavioural psychology, behavioural economics and social theory. This research is likely to be relevant to how prospective students make their higher education choices.
The research draws attention to the need to examine fundamental assumptions about how people use information in decision-making.
Key findings in the report include:
- The decision-making process is complex, personal and nuanced, involving different types of information, messengers and influences over a long time. This challenges the common assumption that people primarily make objective choices following a systematic analysis of all the information available to them at one time.
- Greater amounts of information do not necessarily mean that people will be better informed or be able to make better decisions.
It’s a really detailed, serious and comprehensive report and sets out eight principles which it is proposed should govern future information provision for prospective HE students. Let’s hope it is taken seriously and that we now take a fresh look at this important issue. Mike Hamlyn has also commented on this report and is entertainingly sceptical on its findings.
