<p>^I’ll make it easy on you. Let’s just use your own posts over the past three months:
- student surveys are “mush” (and by inference so is the PA):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=4065609[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=4065609</a></p>
<p>2) The PA “DIGESTS the fluctuating numerical data over time and in relation to other factors” - post #363.</p>
<p>Your apt use of the word, <em>digests</em> suggests assimilation, sorting, or reclassification of some other baseline data. If the system in question winds up regurgitating the same data (albeit, in a slightly debased form), that, to me, suggests a certain circularity. </p>
<p>Now, you may push back and argue that the system is not in fact closed and that the regurgitation includes “outside factors” not included in the original mix. But, given USNews’ admitted occupation of the field, I’d say the ameliorative effects of so-called “other” marketplace influences are minimal and local at best.</p>