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- Now Available: Matched Comparator Group Report
A powerful new tool to help you create matched comparator groups and strengthen the evaluation of your outreach activities is now available in the Reports area of the database
We’re delighted to announce that the much anticipated Matched Comparator Group Report is now available in the HEAT database.
Designed to support more robust evaluation of outreach activities, the Matched Comparator Group Report makes it easier to create matched comparator groups. This report has been developed as part of HEAT’s commitment to the Office for Students-funded Beyond the Barracks project, and enables members to compare outcomes for participants against similar students using a quasi-experimental approach. Using this report can strengthen evaluation evidence and support the commitments that many members have made in their Access and Participation Plans (APP).
How It Works
The report guides you through the process of creating matched comparator groups by allowing you to:
- Select your participant group
- Choose a pool of potential comparator students
- Define the variables you want to match on, e.g., Sex, Ethnic Group, IMD Decile
- Generate matched participant-comparator pairs in an export file
Matching variables can be selected from a range of Student record fields, including General, Education, Personal and Geography data, allowing you to tailor the matching process to your evaluation needs.
Where to Find the Report
The Matched Comparator Group Report is available in the Reports area of the database (members only) under Evaluation Stage 3: Record and Monitor.
The new report is available to users with the following default roles: Coordinator, Coordinator Lite, Lead, Lead Lite, User with reports. If you are not authorised to access this report, please contact your organisation’s HEAT Point of Contact for assistance.
Getting Started with the Matched Comparator Group Report
In order to make the most of this tool, users need to have a clear idea of what they want to evaluate, including whether a matched comparator group design may be useful in the context of their evaluation, and how to complete the tabs of the Matched Comparator Group report in line with their requirements.
To support you, we have created a range of guidance material, including:
- An introduction to matched comparator groups and why they can make your evaluation more robust
- A decision tool to guide you through how to populate each tab in the report, from shared data considerations to selecting meaningful matching variables
- A User Guide covering practical and technical aspects such as the required report permissions and criteria for Student or Activity records to be included
You can access the above resources via the Matched Comparator Group Report i-button in the Reports area of the database (members only) under Evaluation Stage 3: Record and Monitor.
To see the report in action, you can access a showcase of the report as part of our Summer 2026 Update recording. A list of the accompanying FAQs is also available on the Summer 2026 Update page.
If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact HEAT Support.
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