Tuesday 14th July      Wednesday 15th July      Thursday 16th July      Friday 17th July     

Thursday 16th July, 14:00 - 15:30 Room: L-103

Surveying children and young people 1
Convenor	Miss Emily Gilbert (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education )
Coordinator 1	Ms Lisa Calderwood (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education)

Session Details

Many large-scale surveys successfully collect a variety of different types of data from children and young people. However, there is relatively little methodological evidence in this area. Much of the literature relating to children and young people’s participation in research focuses on small-scale qualitative studies and tends to concentrate on ethical issues relating to the rights of children and young people in research. This session will cover experiences of including children and young people in surveys, and related survey design issues. The session aims to explore a variety of methodological issues around surveying children and young people. Submissions are particularly welcomed on:
- designing questionnaires for children and young people, including question testing methods
- collecting sensitive data from children and young people, including methods for ensuring privacy and encouraging accurate reporting
- collecting different types of data from children and young people, including physical measurements, cognitive assessments, biological samples and time use data
- using different methods of data collection, including the use of innovative technology such as the web and mobile phones
- inclusivity in data collection methods, including facilitating the participation of young people with lower literacy levels
- assessing the reliability and validity of young people’s self-reports
- preventing non-response by engaging young people in research, including designing survey materials to appeal to young people and using new technology and digital media for participant engagement
- ethical issues in involving children and young people in surveys, including gaining informed consent and protecting children’s rights and well-being

Paper Details

1. Let’s talk about sex: asking 14 year olds about their lives in a home setting
Ms Kate Smith (Centre for Longitudinal Studies)
Ms Lisa Calderwood (Centre for Longitudinal Studies)
Miss Sarah Knibbs (Ipsos MORI)

Asking teenagers about their lives can include sensitive and personal questions if covering everything that’s relevant to them. In a home setting this can prove additionally challenging if you wish them to answer honestly. Previous research has shown that this age group, more than any others, are less likely to give accurate and honest answers to personal questions if they think someone can see their answers.
This paper describes innovations developed for the Age 14 Survey of the UK Millennium Cohort Study to encourage young people to answer honestly and accurately to improve data quality while balancing ethical requirements.

2. How does the interview-mode effect unit non-response and social desirability in health surveys with young people?
Mr Philip Adebahr (University of Technologie Chemnitz)

Which kind of Interview would young people chose if they had a choice between web and phone survey, how does that influence social desirability and unit nonresponse? We intended to answer these questions by surveying 375young people in the age between 14and 17years in Nuremberg, Germany 2011. We experienced three main results: first of all is social desirability more prevalent in singlemode than in mixedmode design. Furthermore, we can proof higher unitresponse in the mixed-mode survey than in the single-mode survey. And as a last point, 93,21%of the young prefer a websurvey instead of a phonesurvey.

3. Awareness Raising Among Interviewees: From Written to Video Information
Dr Geraldine Vivier (National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED))
Mrs Françoise Courtel (National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED))
Miss Zoe Perron (National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED))
Ms Pauline Sage (National Institute for Demographic Studies, INED)
Ms Isabelle Frechon (Printemps lab, National Center for Scientific Research, CNRS)

In the context of a sensitive survey among young people in care, we tested out an online video presentation of the survey as a new way to improve the quality and efficiency of the information circulated about the project to the educative teams in charge of these young people on a daily basis. This approach aimed at overcoming the limitations and constraints of usual written information tools (letters, leaflets…) taking advantage of video as a quicker, livelier and easier way to inform interviewees. In this presentation, we’ll assess the expected and unexpected outcomes of the video on the fieldwork.