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Public trust in examinations is an emerging research area, with Ipsos MORI and Ofqual pursuing reliability health checks since 2008. Existing work lacks a clear focus on what trust in assessment systems means, how people form trust judgments, and how trust can be strengthened. The paper presents first-phase findings from focus groups on perceptions of trust in A-levels and a planned quantitative tool to measure trust across stakeholders.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/assessment-outcomes-and-public-trust-in-a-level-and-gcse-examination-systems-introduction-methodology/620974/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/assessment-outcomes-and-public-trust-in-a-level-and-gcse-examination-systems-introduction-methodology/620974.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Quinn Holloway","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How are examination results used beyond judging students?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"They influence educational and employment choices, support selection for higher education or specific jobs, and are used to compare achievements across societies. Results can also inform policy arguments for alternative education and training modes, and help evaluate teaching through teacher and school recognition.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is the research gap addressed regarding trust in assessment?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"While perceptions of reliability and trust are likely related, there is little research that exclusively examines trust in assessment. The paper highlights that it is unclear what trust in examination systems means, what individuals base trust judgments on, and what could improve trust.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What did the study do to explore trust in A-levels?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"First-phase qualitative work used focus groups with A-level providers and consumers. Four focus groups with 24 participants investigated perceptions of trust, including AQA staff, students, admissions tutors, and employees, and the results are intended to inform a later quantitative measurement tool.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},620974,1792612396,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":26},2336474466712,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","1 INTRODUCTION  \nAssessment outcomes from high-stakes testing serve a multitude of purposes. Examination results impact upon the educational and employment choices of students, parents and employers. They provide a basis for selecting individuals for higher education courses or particular jobs and qualify individuals to perform certain vocational or professional activities. Assessment outputs are not only used to judge students, but also those responsible for teaching them – teachers and schools may be rewarded or reproved on the basis of their students’ performances. Furthermore, examination results can be used in the development of policy arguments for alternative modes of education and training and to compare the educational accomplishments of one society with those of another (O’Neill, 2005) . For these reasons, it is important that those who use examination results can trust and have confidence in them.  \nPublic confidence in examinations is a burgeoning area of research. For the past six years, Ipsos MORI have been commissioned by the examinations regulator to conduct research into teachers’, parents’, students’ and the general public’s perception of the A-level and GCSE examination system shortly after each summer examination series. Furthermore, since their launch in May 2008, the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) has been committed to conducting a ‘health check’ on the reliability of qualification, examination and test results. Their two year reliability programme will consist of three strands: generating evidence of reliability, interpreting evidence of reliability, and developing a policy on reliability. The overarching aim of the project is to gain an understanding of the reliability of results and what this means to the public. Whilst general perceptions of A-level and GCSE, and perceptions of the reliability of results, are likely to contribute to trust, there is no research to date that exclusively focuses upon the concept of trust in assessment. Nothing is known about  \nwhat it means to trust in examination systems , what individuals base their trust judgements on, and what could be done to improve trust.  \nDefinitions of trust are highly context dependent (Goudge & Gilson, 2005) . Where little is known about how trust functions, it is recommended that qualitative research be conducted to explore how respondents view trust and trusted behaviour. One area of social life where trust-based research is well-established is the medical profession. Here, qualitative work has been instrumental in understanding trust in patient-provider relationships and trust in health care systems (Thom and Campbell, 1997; Straten, Friele & Groenewegen, 2002) . Moreover, the findings from qualitative inquiry have been used to generate items for structured questionnaires. Van der Schee, Braun, Calnan, Schnee, and Groenewegen,(2007), for example, based their questionnaire on public trust in health care systems in the Netherlands, England and Wales on dimensions of trust that had emerged from qualitative research. Goudge and Gilson (2005) argue that quantitative analysis is of equal importance to the study of trust, because it enables large scale investigation and generates data that can be used to explore the statistical significance of the relationship between different variables and overall trust levels.  \nThis paper reports on findings from the first phase of a research study exploring trust in Alevels. It was felt that trust in A-levels (as opposed to GCSE or vocational qualifications) would be the richest area for research, because they are of often thought of as the ‘gold standard’ of assessment and are a student’s main route to university, college or employment. Focus groups were conducted with providers and consumers of A-levels. The purpose of the focus groups was to explore participants’ perceptions of trust in A-level. It is intended that the findings from the qualitative inquiry will inform the","cbCaivJyTNcRhiVG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivJyTNcRhiVG","pdf",609300,24,"English","# Introduction\n# Methodology","[{\"question\":\"How are examination results used beyond judging students?\",\"answer\":\"They influence educational and employment choices, support selection for higher education or specific jobs, and are used to compare achievements across societies. Results can also inform policy arguments for alternative education and training modes, and help evaluate teaching through teacher and school recognition.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the research gap addressed regarding trust in assessment?\",\"answer\":\"While perceptions of reliability and trust are likely related, there is little research that exclusively examines trust in assessment. The paper highlights that it is unclear what trust in examination systems means, what individuals base trust judgments on, and what could improve trust.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study do to explore trust in A-levels?\",\"answer\":\"First-phase qualitative work used focus groups with A-level providers and consumers. Four focus groups with 24 participants investigated perceptions of trust, including AQA staff, students, admissions tutors, and employees, and the results are intended to inform a later quantitative measurement tool.\"}]","Assessment Outcomes and Public Trust in A-level and GCSE Examination Systems - Introduction - Methodology | PDF",1792464817]