THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND TEXT SIMILARITY CHECKING PROCESS ACROSS COUNTRIES: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The relationship between education and societal similarity is crucial in understanding global academic and cultural trends. This study aims to examine the correlation between the Education Index (a subindex of the Human Development Index) and the Similarity Percentage across countries, assessing whether higher education levels influence similarity patterns. A quantitative research approach was employed, utilising descriptive statistics, correlation analyses (Spearman, Kendall, and Distance Correlation), and regression models (polynomial and Generalized Additive Models - GAM) based on data from 142 countries. The findings indicate a weak but statistically significant negative correlation between the Education Index and Similarity Percentage, suggesting that higher education levels are slightly associated with lower similarity. However, the Distance Correlation test (dCor = 0.24) implies a more complex, non-linear relationship between the variables. Regression models failed to significantly improve the justification of results, highlighting that the Education index alone does not strongly predict similarity percentages. These results suggest that other socio-economic, cultural, and geopolitical factors play a more substantial role in determining similarity patterns between nations.