ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

Monday 14 July    Tuesday 15 July    Wednesday 16 July    Thursday 17 July    Friday 18 July   

All time references are in CEST

Hearing children’s voices: designing and pre-testing questions for children and young people
Session Organisers	Ms Alice McGee (Verian) Ms Lucy Campbell (Verian)
Time	Wednesday 16 July, 16:00 - 17:30
Room	Ruppert C - 0.23

Gathering reliable survey data from children presents unique challenges, particularly as survey practices shift from in-person, interviewer-led methods to online self-completion formats. While it is essential to capture authentic insights directly from children, determining when and how they can independently participate in survey research remains complex.
Current literature identifies certain ages or developmental stages at which children can begin answering survey questions independently. For example, the National Children’s Bureau suggests that for children in secondary school (typically age 11) most methods for adults can be considered, but with a degree of adaptation.
To address difficulties in directly surveying this hard-to-reach group, researchers have employed various approaches. One workaround is to conduct fieldwork within a school-setting, allowing support for children as young as 4 and ensuring those with learning needs are not excluded. A second approach is to collect data via a proxy participant, such as a parent or teacher. But how accurate are these proxy perceptions? Can parents really know exactly what their child does, what they think or how they feel?
Recent work by Verian in developing on the Children's Crime Survey for England and Wales concluded that the age at which a child can complete a survey independently depends on the topic, task complexity, and survey context or mode. This underscores the need for thoughtful questionnaire design and supports the argument that an approach, tailored to children’s developmental stages, can help reduce the types of barriers outlined above.
We invite researchers to share experiences in designing and testing questions for children and young people. Submissions with insights from depth interviews, cognitive testing, or innovative ways to capture high-quality data directly from children are especially welcome, as are recommendations for best practices in survey design for this age group.

Keywords: children, young people, question design, pre-testing, cognitive testing, depth interviews, best practice

Papers

Designing and testing questions about online harm with young people in 12 countries across four continents

Dr Margaret Blake (Ipsos) - Presenting Author
Mrs Yvette Boodhna (Ipsos)
Miss Florence Slark (Ipsos)

Disrupting Harm is an innovative multi-country project funded through the 2019 Fund to End Violence Against Children. The research is a partnership between UNICEF, Interpol and ECPAT International, exploring three complementary dimensions of online child sexual exploitation and abuse: Context, threats and children’s perspectives. Ipsos was commissioned by UNICEF Innocenti - Global Office of Research and Foresight to undertake a household survey of 12-17-year-olds and their caregivers to generate new evidence on online child sexual abuse in 12 countries across four continents. The research follows an ethical approach with child safeguarding at its heart.
Ipsos carried out cognitive testing of some of the survey questions in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia. The aims were to understand how young people interpret and respond to the survey questions, identify sources of measurement error and explore whether the underlying questions and response options and the translations capture the same meaning across countries.
Ten interviews were carried out in person in each country in autumn 2023. The interviews included interviewer administered questions as well as a self-completion section for more sensitive questions (mimicking the survey design).
We will share our experience of the practicalities of carrying out a cognitive testing project across multiple countries, including our approach to briefing and analysis, safeguarding considerations when testing research tools on a sensitive topic with young people, what we learnt about translation and the language used by young people and how judgements about sensitive survey content vary globally. The testing highlighted the challenges of conducting research with young people on rapidly developing topics like digital use, artificial intelligence and tech-facilitated abuse. It also showed the importance of including young people at survey the design stage, to ensure that their habits and language are appropriately

Designing and testing questions about physical activity with children and young people in special schools in England

Dr Margaret Blake (Ipsos) - Presenting Author
Miss Nina Tapie (Ipsos)
Mr Matt Shapley (Ipsos)
Mrs Claire Bhaumik (Ipsos)

The Active Lives Survey for Children and Young People, commissioned by Sport England, asks children aged 5 to 16 about participation in physical activity and attitudes. Data show the extent to which children meet physical activity guidelines, the relationship between participation and attitudes, and inequalities in participation. Children with a disability or special educational need attending mainstream schools take part but those who attend special schools are not included in the main sample.
Sport England was keen to explore how the questionnaire could be adapted for special schools to include the voices of these children and understand how their experiences compare with other children. Children who attend special schools often have the most profound and complex additional needs. This makes hearing their experiences particularly important but presents challenges for their participation in research.
Ipsos UK interviewed special school teachers and stakeholders, cognitively tested adapted questions with pupils, and designed a more accessible online questionnaire with communication symbols and audio options. The pilot showed that there were considerable barriers to disabled young people in special schools taking part. Pressure on special schools meant that response rates were low despite commitment to the survey.
A later development project sought support from parents in enabling young people to respond and took a more flexible approach to comparability. However, after further interviews with stakeholders, teachers, pupils and parents to test new approaches, the development was paused. The demands on schools and families of special school pupils and the wide range of needs in relation to engagement with research and physical activity resulted in a decision to explore more qualitative approaches to hearing their experiences.
We will present the approaches we used for adapting the question design and testing it with pupils in special schools and the implications for future research with this group.

Including Children and Young People in Survey Research: lessons from qualitative and cognitive interviews and recommendations for best practice

Miss Lucy Campbell (Verian) - Presenting Author

The inclusion of children and young people (CYP) in survey research raises important questions. Can they be surveyed in the same way as adults, or do they require a separate approach? How should these methods be tailored for younger children? Hearing directly from children is crucial to capturing their authentic voices, but we need to think of ways of empowering them to share their perspectives meaningfully. As survey research increasingly shifts to online self-completion formats, we risk losing the flexibility and one-to-one engagement offered by in-person interviews, which is often essential for meaningful participation.

This paper seeks to address these questions by drawing on insights from two recent Verian studies involving a large number of qualitative and cognitive interviews with children and young people aged 8 to 22. Specifically, it will summarise and evaluate five key themes:
• Interviewing styles and engagement techniques: The range of interviewing methods used, including warm-up activities and strategies to maintain children’s focus and interest.
• Communicating research purpose: Effective ways to explain the research objectives and the importance of clarifying what is being asked of CYP and why.
• Memory recall challenges: The role of memory recall for children, with a focus on the impact of recall period length and topic saliency.
• Co-design with parents and CYP: How collaborative focus groups informed the development of interview stimuli and how these approaches could translate to survey settings.
• Parents' role in research: Exploring the role of parents as both facilitators and potential obstacles, with suggestions for managing this dynamic effectively.

Building on the evidence and lessons learned from these studies, the paper will propose a set of best-practice recommendations for interviewing CYP in survey research.

Understanding skip behavior in web surveys among children and adolescents in a cross-cultural perspective

Mr Ricardo Gonzalez (Kaunas University of Technology; Universidad Adolfo Ibañez) - Presenting Author
Miss Dörte Naber (Universidad de Granada)

Survey research with children and adolescents is rapidly expanding, yet adult-designed methodologies often overlook their unique cognitive and motivational factors. A major challenge in self-administered web surveys is “skip” behavior, when participants choose not to answer certain questions. Drawing on the Question-and-Answer Process Model and Satisficing Theory, this study investigates how both question characteristics (e.g., complexity, sensitivity, and structure) and respondent attributes (e.g., age, gender, country of residence) jointly influence the likelihood of skipping behavior among young respondents in different countries.

We hypothesize that the likelihood of skipping a question increases with question complexity, such as longer questions. Furthermore, sensitive questions are expected to have higher skip rates compared to those deemed less sensitive. We also posit that children are more likely to skip questions than adolescents due to lower cognitive abilities. Moreover, students who are more interested in water literacy are expected to exhibit lower skip rates than those less interested in the topic.

We employ data from the ProBleu project, which fosters joint ocean and freshwater literacy within European schools. Specifically, we analyze responses from the web-based survey conducted prior to the project's activities, utilizing multilevel logistic regression models at the question-respondent level. This methodology effectively disentangles question-level and respondent-level effects on skipping behavior. Additionally, we explore interactions, such as between question complexity and age, to assess whether older respondents are better equipped to handle complex questions.

Our findings shed light on the interplay between question design and respondent characteristics in producing non-substantive responses, thereby offering evidence-based recommendations on how to craft more child- and adolescent-friendly surveys.

This study has been funded by EU Research and Innovation Funding Programme “Horizon Europe” under the project “Promoting ocean and water literacy in school communities” (ProBleu, Project

Growing Up in Ireland: Piloting the transition to adulthood

Dr Caragh Stapleton (Central Statistics Office) - Presenting Author

Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and young people in Ireland. This landmark survey is a principal data source for issues facing children and young people in Ireland today. The main survey themes are: education and cognitive development; physical health and well-being; socio-emotional well-being; sociodemographic factors and family structure; relationships; and social participation. The study is composed of three cohorts. Respondents in Cohort ’08 were recruited when they were nine months old. They have been followed-up at numerous important life stages and will be aged 17/18 when next surveyed in October 2025. The scale of national and international change since Cohort ’08 were last interviewed at age 13 has been unprecedented. Now on the cusp of adulthood, data from Cohort ’08 at 17 will support evidence-based decision making at local, national, and European level particularly around necessary services for young people and their families.
To facilitate the development of the survey instrument for Cohort ’08 at 17, pilot data collection was undertaken throughout Q4 2024. This extensive pilot trialled the multiple instruments utilised within GUI and administered to the respondents, their parent(s) and their school principal: a main questionnaire administered by an interviewer in the young person’s home, a shortened main and a proxy main, cognitive tests, sensitive self-complete questionnaires, and a school principal survey.
The voice of the respondent is central to GUI, and at this transition point to adulthood, capturing the aspirations, beliefs, and motivations of Cohort ’08 is so important. The pilot was essential in testing the survey design in the field. This presentation will share the results of the pilot and how the incorporation of valuable feedback both from pilot respondents and field staff informed the design of the main study.

Methodological and ethical considerations for conducting surveys among children and young people: summary of findings from a rapid evidence review of over 30 UK studies

Mrs Becky Hamlyn (Verian UK) - Presenting Author

In 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) commissioned Verian UK to conduct an evidence review to scope out the key issues for research among 9–17-year-olds. The review was primarily used to inform a proposed new approach to surveying children and young people (CYP) about their experiences of crime and cybercrime. However, the review spanned a broader set of topics and methodologies. As such, the results provide a more extensive insight into recommended approaches for research with this age group across social surveys.

The evidence review was based on 31 high quality UK-based studies conducted between 2016 and 2022, although our paper will also draw on more recent relevant studies conducted in 2023-2024. The review also covered several ethical frameworks related to research among CYP.

The paper will cover three main areas. Firstly, an overview of methodological approaches including survey mode and setting, independent studies with CYP and those linked to parental studies; internet access among CYP and impact on participation; and response rates and use of incentives.

Secondly, we will provide an overview of the ethical issues relevant to surveying CYP, drawing on our review of relevant frameworks as well as practical applications of ethical protocols within the studies reviewed. We will cover issues such as informed consent; parental permission; age-suitability; accessibility; safeguarding; and confidentiality and privacy.

Finally, in addition to the scoping review, Verian conducted qualitative research with CYP which provided further insight into appropriate design of survey materials across this age group. We will cover issues such as age-appropriate survey communication materials, survey content and engagement, and parental involvement and expectations.

In summary, we intend this paper to highlight the key methodological and ethical issues that need to be considered when designing surveys for this age group, and wider lessons.