Summary information

Study title

Code/Syntax: Social classes, school performance, subjective expected utilities, and educational decisions: A rigorous application of a Rational Choice Theory for explaining educational differentials in German-speaking parts of Switzerland

Creator

Becker, Rolf ( Universität Bern)

Study number / PID

10.7802/2675 (GESIS)

10.7802/2675 (DOI)

Data access

Information not available

Series

Not available

Abstract

English (German below) The published Stata syntax file (do-file) can be used to replicate the results reported in the cited article. To replicate the analyses, the dataset of the DAB Panel Study (DAB): W1 - W10 (version 7.0.0) can be requested from the study website ( https://doi.org/10.48573/zvrk-w663 ). Abstract of the journal article: There have been several suggestions on how Rational Choice Theories (RCT) for educational decisions could be tested directly. In this empirical analysis, it is argued that these testing strategies have shortcomings, and therefore a different testing strategy is suggested. An innovative specification of a broad version of an RCT for educational decisions is applied, directly taking the utility-maximising behaviour of the actors into account. By using this improved testing strategy, it is demonstrated for young people residing in German-speaking Switzerland that rational decisions play an important role in educational decisions. They calculate the subjective expected benefit of every educational option at the end of compulsory school that, in their view, is relevant to the continuation of their school and vocational training. Panel data show that they ordinally rank the educational options considered according to their benefit and that they choose the option that promises the greatest benefit. For young people in different school branches, it can be seen that the purposive-rational evaluation of the educational options considered and the selection of the educational option with the highest subjectively expected utility are essential mechanisms of educational decision-making characterised by procedural rationality. Keywords: Educational decisions; inequality of educational opportunity; Rational Choice Theories; social class; social mechanisms; subjective expected utility. ++++++++++++++++ Deutsch Mit der veröffentlichten Stata-Syntaxdatei (Do-File) können die im zitierten Artikel berichteten Ergebnisse repliziert werden....
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Topics

Not available

Methodology

Data collection period

Not available

Country

Switzerland

Time dimension

Longitudinal (panel study)

Analysis unit

Not available

Universe

Schulpflichtige in Regelschulen (Geburtsjahr: 1997; Region: deutschsprachige Kantone der Schweiz)

Sampling procedure

Probability Sample

Kind of data

Not available

Data collection mode

Web-based interview

Access

Publisher

GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences

Publication year

2024

Terms of data access

Free access (with registration) - The research data can be downloaded by registered users.

Related publications

Not available