Scientific Knowledge in Parents' Decision-Making during Pandemic

This study surveyed 520 K-12 students' parents before the fall semester of 2020 regarding their decision-making for online or onsite schooling for their children. Results indicate that parents' decisions were diverse, but close to half of the parents (48%) preferred E-learning, and only 32% preferred onsite learning, and 20% preferred hybrid learning. Parents with higher-grade kids were inclined to choose onsite learning compared to lower-grade kids. To investigate how parents reached out to their decisions, we investigated three types of knowledge used: the most up-to-date evidence about the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19; the impacts of school closures on students and families; and the complexities of operating school buildings during the pandemic. Results indicate that averagely 36.5% (SD = 2.2%) of the three groups of parents presented no scientific knowledge or unscientific knowledge in their decision-making. Only a very minor variance (1.7%) existed among the three groups that considered knowledge about COVID-19, indicating that up-to-date evidence about COVID-19 may not be the critical factor accounting for parents' discrepant decisions. Approximately 30.0 % of parents in the onsite group considered the knowledge about the impact on students and families. Only 15.1% in the E-learning and 15.4% in the Hybrid groups presented this knowledge in comparison. Only 2.3% of parents in the onsite group considered the complexity of operating schools, while more than 20% of parents in the E-learning and Hybrid groups utilized this knowledge.