Unlocking socioeconomic insights through schools’ geolocation: an innovative methodology for educational research

Abstract

The Socio-Economic Status (SES) of schools is arguably the most widely used contextual variable in educational research. Traditional approaches for gathering school SES information have frequently relied upon numerous items – some of which are open-ended – imposing a significant burden on both informants and researchers. To address this concern, this article proposes an efficient approach to leveraging socioeconomic information by employing a geolocation-based methodology. Through the examination of a Spanish PISA 2018 dataset, we illustrate that utilizing schools' geolocation proves to be a time-efficient mechanism for gathering school-level socioeconomic information. The article delves into the methodological and practical implications arising from these findings.