Creating groups based on stated preference?

Hi All,

Hope somebody can help.

I have a large group of pupils who have ranked their preference for 4 different activities. 1 being most prefered through to 4 least preferred. I'm now trying to make groups that optimise their preference for taking part in the activity. Each group will take part in 2 of the 4 activities and should stay in the same group for both activities. A pupil can't appear in more than one group and there are maximum sizes of groups. Attached is a sample file of the kind of data I have.

Is there some form of coding I can use to create these groups automatically? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean

Have you got a real selection of data?

If that is the real data, with just the names changed, then there are only a couple of people that miss out on their first choice and it would be easier for you to just be like: "i don't like you, you can get your second choice"

Hi,

The real data isn't completed yet. Was looking to try and create a workbook that can be used over and over again as scheuling groups happens regularly, takes ages to try and be fair and after that someone always thinks they're being picked on because they didnt get their choices.

Thanks,
Sean

Send on the data when it is completed.

Back onto deciding which preferences are taken first.

I started having a look at it. Time to bust out the psuedo code

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I think in this way, people will get assigned to their highest preference. The only thing is, their preferences aren't compared to one another so it is theoretically possible for someone to get their 4th pick.

I did have a bit of a thought about comparing preferences. Maybe by adding the preferences up and using each activities score, we can give weight to each person and as their earlier preferences become unavailable, their importance increases, numerically speaking.