2020/07/14 by Manini Ojha, Ojha, Manini, Mohammad Arshad Rahman +1
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN) #econ.GN #q-fin.EC
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2007.06994
20 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2020/07/14 · arxiv updated 2020/07/15
Education has traditionally been classroom-oriented with a gradual growth of online courses in recent times. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the shift to online classes. Associated with this learning format is the question: what do people think about the educational value of an online course compared to a course taken in-person in a classroom? This paper addresses the question and presents a Bayesian quantile analysis of public opinion using a nationally representative survey data from the United States. Our findings show that previous participation in online courses and full-time employment status favor the educational value of online courses. We also find that the older demographic and females have a greater propensity for online education. In contrast, highly educated individuals have a lower willingness towards online education vis-à-vis traditional classes. Besides, covariate effects show heterogeneity across quantiles which cannot be captured using probit or logit models.