Factors Influencing the Choice of Destination for Pursuing a Master’s Degree: A Mixed Methods Research

Abstract

This report identifies factors that influence students’ choices over where to pursue a master’s degree. Based on information from the empirical study as well as scholarly works done by previous writers on education, the initial hypothesis of 10 factors with a whole spectrum of effects was proposed. This research employed both qualitative analysis and quantitative method of reliability and factor analyses. The qualitative part figured out a total of 18 original factors for quantitative analysis, which later compared their matrix and leave 15 factors of strong relevance. The results indicate that students’ own needs turn out to be the most influential factor, with school characteristics, others’ opinions, and the administrative efficacy of the school also contributing to the issue.