School Choice and Satisfaction of Low Income and High Income Families: Nested Logit Model Application

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine socioeconomic factors affecting low income and high income families’ choice for a public school or a private school, to investigate their state of satisfaction with the school their children are attending and to determine the factors affecting their state of being satisfied or dissatisfied with the school. To this end, the “Life Satisfaction Survey” B micro data set issued by the Turkish Statistical Institute for the year 2018 was used. The scope of the study consists of the data set of 1,939 households in the school choice model and 2,021 households in the school satisfaction analysis. In the analysis of the data, a two-level Nested Logit model was used in the school choice stage and three-level Nested Logit model was used in the school satisfaction stage. As a result of the school choice analysis, the number of people who bring income to the household, the household head’s marital status, education level and age and household size variables were found to be influential on school choice. As a result of the satisfaction analysis, it was determined that the variables of the quality and number of educational materials in the school, the general approach of the school administration, the attitude of teachers towards students and the number of students in the classroom are the predictors of the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a public or a private school.