As the development process of private schools is a rather new phenomenon in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), there is a lack of studies focusing on this region. Therefore, I had to travel there in order to collect data on the numbers of private schools, students’ enrollment as well as the teachers working in private sector and the characteristics of these schools in general. 

The field work was conducted in nine weeks in KRI, starting on the 6th of May until 7th of July. One of the obstacles was to obtain accurate data about the private schools. Therefore, I had to first visit the General Directories of Education in each city - Duhok, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah - to collect accurate data about the private schools. Second, for conducting a survey with parents who send their children to private schools, I had to visit all the private schools in Duhok, Zakho and Akre districts to ask for their cooperation in establishing contact with the parents.

With the help of three assistant researchers, personal interviews and telephone interviews were carried out with 268 parents to gather data about the factors influencing parent’s choice of private schools in KRI. The target group were parents who have children in the first, second and third grades of primary schools in districts and sub-districts in Duhok city. Several obstacles impeded the field work, such as some private schools not cooperating in getting me in touch with the parents or travelling to meet parents who live in remote districts. However, I could manage to conduct enough interviews to provide a good sample for my study. ?