The English Examining Boards: Their route from independence to government outsourcing agencies

26

2000 (Cresswell 2000) prior to their merger with the Northern Examinations and
Assessment Board to form the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA). Such
research has been most helpful in clarifying my grasp of technical issues like
norm∕criterion referencing (Cresswell 1997) or comparability of qualifications (Jones
2000) and provides important insights into the complexities of the assessment process.
This study has benefited from access to these papers, both those now generally
accessible and to those whose circulation was limited to members of the AQA
Research Committee, of which I was for some years a member.

(b) The Media as Data Sources: Press, Broadcast and Internet

In view of both the lack of data on my subject in the range of academic sources and
my focus on very recent events, I have relied on media sources more than might
usually be advisable for serious research. The weekly coverage of the education scene
in the Times Educational Supplement and Guardian Education have been invaluable
in providing an overview of the field and of the succession of reports which have
informed my research - pointing out sites on the internet which provide greater detail
on topics they cover in broad terms. I am indebted to my supervisor for access to his
copy of the weighty publication containing media coverage of the autumn 2002 A-
Ievel grades crisis (QCA 2002b). Comprising copies of articles collected by QCA
staff from a wide variety of national and regional newspapers and the BBC website, it
was circulated to selected members of the Authority. It has proved an invaluable
source of data regarding that interesting time.

Occasional radio and television broadcasts have also provided information I have
found useful in illuminating aspects of this territory.

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