A spatial analysis of college choice behavior in Taiwan

• Main Author: 李欣儒
• Other Authors: 劉漢奎
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44356895489585878193

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 地理學系 === 94 === Abstract During the past ten years, colleges and universities in Taiwan have experienced an increasingly intensive competition among one another in recruiting students. Researches in college choice behavior of high-school students could have provided valuable information to the recruitment policies for college administrations. Issues on College attendance and college choice have received scholarly attention from sociologists and economists in 1970s. Other social scientists, researchers of higher education and college administrators have also developed an research interest in the college choice process. From geographic point of view, college attributes include certain geographical elements. College choice behavior, therefore, can be regarded as the result of decisions made by students among various spatial alternatives. This point has rarely been explored in similar researches in Taiwan. The purpose of this research, based on Rushton’s conceptual framework of spatial behavior and combined with random utility models applied in many disciplines, is to analyze college choice behavior of high-school students in Taiwan and factors affecting such choice. According to random utility models, the decision made by an individual is regarded as the response to preference ranking of alternatives which is affected by related attributes of alternatives and that individual. Due to the unavailability of revealed–preference data , this paper interviewed students through stated preference questionnaire to collect relevant information on college and student (or household) attributes, and reported choices of students. A quota sampling scheme is used in this study. These data will then be used to fit multinomial logit models (MNLs) to obtain parameter estimates. Results of this analysis shows that, in addition to tuition and fees, public or private institution, availability of scholarship and total number of students enrolled, spatial attributes of college－i.e., distance from home location and population size of college location also have significant effect on college choice. Among those student (or household) attributes, gender, family socioeconomic status and academic ability reveal little or no significant effect on college choice. Evidence shows that, on the other hand, students from different regions of residence behave differently in terms of distance perception in college choice. It can be concluded that, therefore, spatial attributes of both colleges locations and students’ residential environments are important determinants of college choice behavior.