This appendix describes how applicant subgroups were defined for comparative purposes. Four subgroup analyses were conducted: by gender, by location, by socioeconomic background, and by category of preferred university.

Applicants’ geographical locations were defined as urban or rural/isolated using the postcode of their permanent home address and an index of location (ABS 1990a, ABS 1990b and DPIE 1994). Area measures based on population average are widely recognised to have limitations. In the case of rurality and isolation and, for instance, the possible education disadvantage of living a long way from a university, postcode indices have particular shortcomings for people who live near regional universities or rural campuses of urban universities.

Highest parental education was chosen as an appropriate measure of socioeconomic background. The project defined three socioeconomic status (SES) subgroups by banding as follows.

• Lower SES parents did not attend school, attended only primary school, or attended some secondary school
• Medium SES parents completed secondary school and/or vocational qualification, diploma or associate diploma (e.g. TAFE)
• Higher SES parents completed a university degree

In order to determine whether applicants applying to different types of institutions were considering alternative factors, the major universities were grouped according to their key characteristics. These groupings are:

Research intensive, generally older universities
The University of New South Wales
The University of Sydney
Monash University
The University of Melbourne
The University of Queensland
The University of Western Australia
The University of Adelaide
The University of Tasmania
The Australian National University

Universities of Technology
University of Technology, Sydney
Swinburne University of Technology
RMIT University
Victoria University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology
Curtin University of Technology

Other metropolitan universities
Macquarie University
University of Wollongong
University of Western Sydney
The University of Newcastle
Deakin University
La Trobe University
University of South Australia
The Flinders University of South Australia
University of Canberra
Griffith University
Murdoch University
The Australian Catholic University

Regional universities
Charles Sturt University
Southern Cross University
The University of New England
University of Ballarat
Central Queensland University
James Cook University
University of Southern Queensland
Edith Cowan University
Northern Territory University

Some smaller institutions were not included in this classification
Avondale College
Marcus Oldham College
Australian Maritime College
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

Contents
Acknowledgments
Executive summary
1. Introduction
2. Understanding student decision-making
3. The method
4.  Applicants’ general intentions and sources of information
5.  The influences on school-leaver applicants
6.  The influences on mature-age applicants
7.  Subgroup differences: The effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and location
8.  Influences by field of study preference
9.  Influences according to the type of university chosen
10. Diversity and uncertainty: Applicant case studies
11. Decisions at the time of offer
12. The higher education choice process: A summary of findings and conclusions
Appendix 1 Definition of applicant subgroups
Appendix 2 Details of factor analyses
References

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