Classifying Units into Homogeneous Groups: Application of a Two-stage Method to District-level Data on Primary Education in India

Tamal Krishna Kayal
Additional contact information
Tamal Krishna Kayal: Tamal Krishna Kayal is an Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, 2022, vol. 16, issue 2, 203-221

Abstract: In development studies, classification of units into different homogeneous groups is often required. Arriving at such a classification becomes complicated when a number of variables are taken into consideration. The standard practice of using an aggregate measure for this purpose has several limitations. The present study applies a two-stage method that attempts to overcome these limitations. It has considered data for 10 indicators of outcome of primary education for 161 districts across India. These districts have been classified into three distinct but homogeneous groups. The classification is such that the districts within a particular group are more or less similar in terms of the indicators of educational outcome, but they differ significantly across the three groups. The two-stage method has also revealed the specific area of disadvantage for each group of districts, thus yielding useful information for policy purposes. JEL Codes: C18, C38, I21

Keywords: Classification method; Distinct homogeneous groups; Principal components; Varimax rotation; Cluster analysis; Primary education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09738010221074575 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:mareco:v:16:y:2022:i:2:p:203-221

DOI: 10.1177/09738010221074575

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research from National Council of Applied Economic Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().