Most chosen general qualifications exam board in England.

  • About AQA

  • Centre Services

  • Join Us

  • Contact Us

AQA
  • Subjects
  • Qualifications
  • Professional Development
  • Exams Admin
  • Services
  • Search
  • Subjects

  • Qualifications

  • Professional Development

  • Exams Admin

  • Services

  • About AQA

  • Centre Services

  • Join Us

  • Contact Us

  • Log in

Subjects

  • Accounting

  • Art and Design

  • Biology

  • Business

  • Chemistry

  • Computer Science

  • Dance

  • Design and Technology

  • Drama

  • Economics

  • English

  • Food preparation and Nutrition

  • French

  • Geography

  • German

  • History

  • Law

  • Mathematics

  • Media Studies

  • Music

  • Physical Education

  • Physics

  • Politics

  • Psychology

  • Religious Studies

  • Science

  • Sociology

  • Spanish

  • All subjects

GCSEs

  • Biology (8461)

  • Chemistry (8462)

  • Combined Science: Trilogy (8464)

  • English Language (8700)

  • English Literature (8702)

  • Geography (8035)

  • History (8145)

  • Mathematics (8300)

  • See all GCSEs

AS and A-levels

  • Biology (7401)

  • Business (7131)

  • Chemistry (7404)

  • Geography (7037)

  • History (7041)

  • Physics (7407)

  • Psychology (7181)

  • Sociology (7191)

  • See all AS and A-Levels

Other qualifications

  • Applied Generals

  • AQA Certificate Mathematics

  • Entry Level Certificates

  • Project Qualifications

  • Unit Award Scheme

  • All qualifications

Our training

  • Course finder

  • About our training

  • Online training

  • Face-to-face training

  • In-school training

  • Inside assessment

Courses by theme

  • Effective exam prep

  • Exams officers

  • Getting started

  • Unit Award Scheme

Courses by subject

  • English

  • Mathematics

  • Science

  • Languages

  • Design and Technology

  • Physical Education

  • Geography

  • History

  • All professional development

Dates

  • Dates and timetables

  • Key dates

Non-exam assessment (NEA)

  • NEA, coursework and controlled assessment

  • Deadlines for non-exam assessment

  • Record forms

  • Submit marks

Exams

  • Entries

  • Entry fees

  • Exams guidance

  • Question papers and stationery

  • Access arrangements

  • Special consideration

Results

  • Results days

  • Results slips

  • Grade boundaries

  • Results statistics

  • Post-results services

  • Exam certificates

  • All Exams Admin

Assessment Services

  • Centre Services

  • Associate Extranet

  • Become an associate

Products

  • All About Maths

  • Alpha Plus

  • Data Insights

  • Exampro

  • Project Q

  • Stride Maths

  • Testbase

  • Unit Award Scheme

News and Insights

  • AQI research and insight

  • News

  • Inside exams podcast

AQA
  • Become an examiner
  • Contact Us
  • Join us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Accessibility
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • Cookie notice
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube

©AQA 2025 | Company number: 03644723 | Registered office: Devas Street, Manchester, M15 6EX | AQA is not responsible for the content of external sites

AQA Education has obtained an injunction preventing interference with public examinations. This notice is to alert you to the injunction, so that you are aware of it and can make submissions about it if you wish to do so.

  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. Our Research
  4. Research Library
  5. Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade

Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade

Share this page

  • WhatsApp
  • LinkedIn
  • X
  • Facebook
Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques
            do not make the grade

Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade

01 Sep 1997

Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade

By Paul Newton

Abstract

In the past few years the examination boards in Britain have witnessed a renewed interest from external bodies in the notion of comparability of grading standards between different subjects. This interest has stemmed from concern with findings, from statistical techniques for comparison, suggesting that public examinations in different subjects are not comparable.

This article focuses on one of these techniques — the Subject‐Pair Analysis — in an attempt to demonstrate that reliance on the statistical comparison of standards between subjects is misplaced.

Fundamental assumptions underlying the Subject‐Pair Analysis, and related analyses, are made explicit and then challenged both in principle and from operational data. These techniques cannot be assumed even to approximate a valid representation of ‘the problem’ of between‐subject comparability because they are inappropriate for dealing with the kind of data that our examinations generate.

How to cite

Newton, P (1997). Measuring comparability of standards between subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade, British Educational Research Journal, 23, 4.

Keywords

  • Comparability
  • Statistics