CHAID Analysis to Determine Socioeconomic Variables that Explain Students' Academic Success

Abstract

This study aims to determine students' characteristics that predict their academic success. The study group consisted of 4,229 students studying at middle schools in Burdur. The data were collected using a questionnaire in the 2014-2015 academic year and analyzed using CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection) analysis, a type of decision-tree technique. The CHAID analysis was completed with 10 branches and 18 nodes, and indicated that students' academic success (end-year success grade) was explained by certain factors including mothers' and fathers' educational status, going to an educational center, parents' employment status and parents' monthly income. The most important parental characteristic for a student's end-year success grade was found to be the father's educational status.