Educational Preferences Among Conservatives and Liberals in the United States: A Quantitative Survey Study

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to explore educational preferences among individuals of conservative and liberal political orientation and of both genders in the United States of America with a 13-questionnaire survey that includes questions relating to different educational preferences. The literature review has revealed previously conducted research study that suggest that individuals of conservative and liberal political orientation may have psychological differences in the domain of emotions, attention, self-control, and cognition. However, the literature review did not reveal research studies that explored educational preferences between individuals with conservative and liberal political orientation in the United States. The results suggest that statistically significant difference exists in the preference to study abroad (χ ² (1, N = 200) = 3.739, p = 0.05). Additional differences, but without a statistically significant differences, were found in the preferences to read fiction and non-fiction genre, perform physically and non-physically challenging activities, perform reading and written assignments, and study in instructional settings where ration between the teachers and technology is uneven.