Collaborative Research: School Choice and College Admissions: Theory and Experiments

这项提案要求提供为期三年的拨款，以支持密歇根大学和卡内基梅隆大学在匹配理论和实验方面的研究计划。拟议的部分研究将在中国与上海交通大学的秦向东和清华大学的石宗凯合作进行。这项计划是由国家科学基金会拨款SES-0720943和大学基金支持的工作的延伸。这项研究可能会对美国的择校改革和中国的大学招生改革产生直接的影响。(1)智力优势：PI提出了一系列应用于择校问题的匹配机制的理论和实验研究：波士顿机制是实践中最常用和最突出的择校算法之一，以及两种具有更好的理论特性的备选方案？盖尔-沙普利机制和修正的波士顿机制。来自实验的数据将提供对择校背景下的机制家族的严格评估。然后，PI建议对大学招生机制进行实验研究，中国使用了不同的方法。对这些机制的理论和实验研究都是推动知识进步的关键。机制不能纯粹基于理论基础进行评估，因为人们可能不会按预期使用它们。他们也不能被评估为在现实世界中使用，因为我们没有接触到人？S真正的偏好。实验对于理解机制将如何发挥作用至关重要。值得注意的是，无论假设是被证实还是被否定，这些发现都将指导理论和实践。(2)更广泛的影响：在过去的二十年里，择校一直是最重要和最广泛辩论的话题之一。在当前关于学校改革的辩论中，选择已成为国家议程的首要议题。波士顿机制是几个率先推出择校计划的城市使用的一种重要算法，但其表现尚未得到彻底评估。随着越来越多的州通过立法，要求在地区内或地区间进行选择，迫切需要对这一机制以及替代机制进行评估，以便提出有意义的政策建议。同样，中国的大学招生机制也提出了一类新的匹配问题，这些问题影响着每年1000多万高三学生的教育和劳动力市场结果。这项研究提案有可能通过影响学生与学校和大学配对的方法而造福社会。只有在本科生和研究生的参与下，才能成功和及时地完成拟议的实验计划。自1999年以来，陈一直通过密歇根大学的本科生研究机会计划和NSF REU计划与本科生合作。PIS将继续每年将1-2名本科生纳入这一研究项目。本科新生将有机会参与该项目的大部分阶段，包括文献回顾、协助进行实验和初步数据分析。分析大型数据集需要研究生的辛勤工作和奉献精神。因此，PIS计划为该项目的每一年配备一名研究生研究助理。鼓励研究生参加会议和研讨会，向研究界展示他们的研究成果。研究生将学习实验研究的整个过程，从实验设计、执行、数据分析到写作和演示。

This proposal requests a three-year grant to support a program of research in matching theory and experiments at the University of Michigan and Carnegie-Mellon University. Part of the proposed research will be conducted in China, in collaboration with Xiangdong Qin at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zongkai Shi at Tsinghua University. This program is an extension of workthat has been supported by NSF grant SES-0720943 and university funds. The proposed research is likely to have direct impact on the school choice reform in the U.S. and college admissions reform in China.(1) Intellectual merit: The PIs propose to conduct theoretical and experimental studies of a family of matching mechanisms applied to the school choice problem: the Boston mechanism, which is one of the most commonly used and prominent school choice algorithms in practice, and two alternatives which have superior theoretical properties ? the Gale-Shapley mechanism and the modified Boston mechanism. Data from the experiment will provide a rigorous evaluation of the family of mechanisms in the school choice context. The PIs then propose experimental studies of the college admissions mechanisms, with variants used in China. Both the theoretical and the experimental studies of these mechanisms are essential to advancing knowledge. Mechanisms cannot be evaluated purely on theoretical grounds, because people may not use them as intended. Nor can they be evaluated as used in the real world, because we donot have access to people?s true preferences. Experiments are vital to understanding how mechanisms will perform. It is important to note that the findings will guide both theory and practice regardless of whether the hypotheses are confirmed or rejected.(2) Broader impacts: School choice has been one of the most important and most widely debated topics in the past twenty years. In the current debate on school reform, choice has moved to the top of the national agenda. The Boston mechanism is a prominent algorithm used in several cities pioneering the school choice program, but its performance has not been thoroughly evaluated. As more states have passed legislation mandating intra- or inter-district choice, it is urgent to evaluate this mechanism as well as alternative mechanisms in order to make meaningful policy recommendations. Similarly, college admissions mechanisms in China present a new class of matching problems which influence the education and labor market outcomes of more than 10 million high school seniors every year. The research proposal has the potential to benefit society by influencing the method by which students are matched with schools and colleges. The successful and timely completion of the proposed experimental program is only possible with the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students. Chen has been working with undergraduatestudents through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at the University of Michigan since 1999 and the NSF REU program. The PIs will continue to include 1-2 undergraduate students in this research project every year. New undergraduate students will have the opportunity to become involved in most phases of the project, including literature review, assistance in conducting experiments and preliminary data analysis. Analysis of large data sets requires the hard work and dedication of graduate students. Therefore, the PIs plan to get one graduate student research assistant for each year of the project. Graduate students are encouraged to participate in conferences and workshops to present their research to the research community. Graduate students will learn the entire process of experimental research, from experimental design, execution, data analysis to writing and presentation.