Abstract:
One hundred and thirty-three parents of students
new ~o ~ive independent schools in Ontario wer. surveyed
to inve~tigate school choice behaviour. Paren~s were
asKed to indicate their reasons for changing schooling,
~he criteria for selection o~ a school and the nature of
the search process. Parents were also asKed to ranK
speci~ic precipitants for change and criteria for
choice.
Spearman RanK Correla.tion tests were run comparing
precipitants for change and criteria for choice for the
entire sample and sub-groups based on socioeconomic
status, gender of the child and family size. No
signl~icant differences were found between the various
$ub-groups, however, there was a strong positive
correlation between precipitants for change and criteria
for choice.Chi sq,uare tests were run compa.ring the number of
information sources utilized in the search process, and
a comparison was made between the importance of the
va.rious sources of information. The majority of parents
were classified as ac~ive searchers, researching one
alternative more carefully than others. Socioeconomic
status was the only factor to have a sign ific:ant- effect
on the ranKing of information sources.
