A Qualitative Study of Decision Making by First Time Parents for Their Child's Prekindgerten Year Programming
Participants' decision-making was influenced by pre-school location, logistics (i.e. transportation), and preparation for kindergarten, hours, cost, and the first impressions of participants. Three major themes emerged from the interviews concerning participant selection of a prekindergarten placement: (a) parental desires for the prekindergarten year; (b) sources of information about prekindergarten programs; and (c) factors that influenced the decision-making process. Two deciding factors were location and participants' first impressions. When a participant decided against a placement due to location or first impressions, the placement was eliminated from further consideration. Participants were willing to work around other decision-making factors, but l these two critical factors ended further consideration of a placement. These findings contribute to existing research on parents' decision-making process of choosing their child's prekindergarten year by extending the research on childcare choices to include choices made specifically for the prekindergarten year. This research identifies key elements for parents including a transitional year for the parent, parents as a source of information , and critical influences on the decision-making process