| HESA

Introducing the Parental Influence Project

When it comes to understanding the full context of students’ postsecondary choices, there’s a great deal at stake for PSE institutions; every student counts. Universities and colleges need to learn as much as possible about how students make their decisions, what factors are involved, and how recruitment plans can be improved to reflect this. One thing we do know is that parents are the most important influencers—yet no substantive research has been done on the specific ways in which they exercise this influence or how institutions can leverage it in the recruitment process.

The Parental Influence Project (PIP) is designed to address this knowledge gap. The project will use a longitudinal set of in-depth qualitative interviews with a sample of 300 parents of grade 12 students from Canada’s English-speaking provinces. Using a methodology similar to the one developed for our 2014-15 Student Decisions Project, the study involves three phases (or “waves”) of interviews over the course of nine months. These will highlight different themes that build on each other to produce a clearer picture of the complex path to PSE choices, and how parents play a role in its formation/development.

Over the course of a year, we will follow parents as they accompany their children through their final year of secondary school. We will learn how and when they talk to their children about institutions, fields of study, and costs.

What are parents’ main sources of information about post-secondary education and careers?
Do they feel that they are well informed?
What do they think need to know about their children’s PSE options—and when do they need to know it?
How can institutions do better at communicating relevant information to parents in a timely and effective manner?
What kind of information might tip the balance when choices are being made?

The three waves of the survey will occur in the following sequence:

	Timing	Significance
Wave 1	September-October	Students Attending university fairs and receiving initial information from PSE institutions.
Wave 2	January-February	Students sending applications to selected institutions
Wave 3	April-May	Students receiving responses from institutions; making the decision about which offer to accept

After each wave, participating institutions will receive a report describing the key findings from the most recent set of interviews.

No previous Canadian study has ever provided this kind of in-depth insight into the role of parents in the student decision-making process – and certainly none has ever been designed to give institutions the critical insights needed to help them speak more directly and effectively to parents. In a period of demographic decline, this is intelligence every institution needs in order to design its best possible recruitment plan.

Becoming a sponsoring member of the study will give you access to:

The opportunity to view and comment on the survey instrument, and offer suggestions as to what is being asked;
Short interim reports after waves 1 and 2, which will explore specific themes addressed in each round of interviews;
A comprehensive final report that presents and analyses students’ decision-making journey and how parents contribute to it.