ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

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Understanding survey participation among children, teenagers and young adults: opportunities, challenges and gaps 2
Session Organisers	Dr Violetta Parutis (ISER, University of Essex) Dr Jonathan Burton (ISER, University of Essex)
Time	Wednesday 16 July, 09:00 - 10:30
Room	Ruppert 119

With response rates declining worldwide, most research into survey participation tends to focus on the adult population, with very little attention devoted to factors that influence survey response among children, teenagers and young people, especially in the longitudinal context. Collecting good quality robust longitudinal survey data about children and young adults is crucial, as research shows significant associations between experiences, attitudes and behaviours in childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and later in life (Parutis, 2023). There is also a need to improve our understanding of the transition into adulthood, which is linked to numerous social, emotional, identity and behavioural changes that happen in young people’s life at the time. Therefore, research is needed to identify what drives young people’s participation, including recruitment and retention, in surveys, and what hinders their engagement in survey research.
This panel aims to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines interested in sharing their experiences of surveying young people. We are interested in hearing from cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, as well as from qualitative research colleagues who would be willing to share their insights into this important but so far under-researched area.
Papers may include but are not limited to
• reasons behind survey non-response among this population
• innovative methods of increasing youth survey response rates
• best ways of engaging young audiences in on-going research
• ideas around how to reach and retain an audience that is constantly changing
• creative, effective and ethical techniques for online and offline engagement with under 18s
• ethical use of social media, youtube and other digital technologies in capturing and researching young people
The call for papers is aimed at those who have undertaken research with children and young adults. Comparisons with older respondents are also encouraged. Cross-national and cross-survey insights are welcome.

Keywords: youth, response

Papers

Engaging children and young people in surveys using remote modes: the role of parents and caregivers

Ms Line Knudsen (National Centre for Social Research) - Presenting Author
Mr Martin Wood (National Centre for Social Research)
Ms Samantha Spencer (National Centre for Social Research)

In many cohort and longitudinal surveys that follow children and young people over time, parents and caregivers provide important insights and information, yet hearing from the child or young person directly is key. However, the move towards remote modes (online and CATI) and away from face-to-face in many longitudinal studies – whether at the initial wave and/or subsequent wave(s) – poses some additional challenges in reaching and surveying children and young people.

With a face-to-face approach, interviewers are in the household; they can speak to both the young person and parent/caregiver and adjust their approach as needed – be it in relation to encouraging participation, gaining informed consent, and/or administering the questionnaire in accordance with study protocols. In contrast, with an online approach (and to a lesser extent a CATI approach), the dynamics and practicalities of the household are largely unknown. For example, who (if anyone!) reads the invitation materials? Are materials passed on to/discussed with the young person? Has the young person actually understood the information, and do they understand the survey questions? Has their parent/caregiver? And have they given their consent? Do they help them complete the survey?

Many of these issues are, of course, not unique to surveying children and young people. Nevertheless, the role of the parent/caregiver as gatekeeper/possible advocate introduces particular challenges for engaging children and young people in online and remote surveys. This presentation will outline and discuss some of these challenges and consider potential approaches for addressing these challenges. It will do so drawing, predominantly, on the SEND Futures study, a longitudinal mixed-mode study which surveyed around 3,000 young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their parent/caregiver.

The challenges of youth self-completion surveys in a mixed mode survey

Dr Violetta Parutis (ISER, University of Essex) - Presenting Author
Dr Jonathan Burton (ISER, University of Essex)

Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study is now a mixed mode survey, with most adults invited to complete online first, with a face-to-face or telephone follow-up (“web-first”). This mixed-mode design was introduced at Wave 8 (2016-17).

One consequence of this move to online interviewing is that the response rate for the youth (age 10-15) self-completion has fallen dramatically. This is a concern for longitudinal studies where researchers may want to use data from childhood to analyse future outcomes. There is also a risk that non-response to the youth survey will lead to non-response when the sample member is eligible for an adult interview.

When the survey was face-to-face only, youth response rates were around 75-80%. But where the parental interview is done online, the paper youth self-completion questionnaire is sent to the household. This design saw the youth response rate decline to around 55% at Waves 11-13. We instituted a number of changes around the reminder strategy to try and increase youth response rates.

This presentation will explore the effectiveness of inviting young people to complete their annual interview online. This presentation describes the experimentation on Waves 16 and 17 of the Innovation Panel. At IP16 we implemented two experiments: (1) an additional conditional incentive; (2) an information leaflet targeted either at the young person or their parent. At IP17 we implemented a more child-friendly design for the online survey. We experimented with the way in which the young person was invited: the standard way (via a letter addressed to the parent), or with an envelope addressed to the young person included in the letter sent to the parent.

We would welcome information from other studies on optimising studies aimed at young people.

Engaging children and young people in survey research

Mrs Amy Tallett (Picker Institute Europe) - Presenting Author

Every child has the right to express their views and wishes, and surveys are one method of enabling this. In healthcare settings, it is vital to seek children’s views about their care to ensure services can be planned and delivered in the most suitable way for them.

There are many important considerations when designing surveys for children to ensure they are appropriate for a younger audience and maximise participation. This presentation will talk through some of those considerations, sharing learning from recent national patient experience surveys carried out in England that the author and her colleagues have designed, such as the Under 16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey (that has been running for four years). Topics to be covered are:

* Survey content. Content should be informed by what is important to children and young people – if we are going to ask for their feedback then we should be asking about what matters to them. This can be achieved by conducting qualitative research with them before the survey is designed.
* Survey design. Surveys must be engaging. Imagery and colour can help make surveys more attractive, and children should be involved in any design decisions.
* Tailoring of design and content to different ages. Different surveys for varying age groups are recommended. The views of parents or carers should also be sought using separate, appropriately designed surveys.
* Cognitive testing. Surveys must be cognitively tested to ensure questions are interpreted as intended. This is particularly important with children who might interpret questions differently to adult researchers.
* Pilot testing. Data collection methods should be trialled, keeping in mind that many children may prefer digital approaches.
* Ethics and accessibility. Accessible survey versions should be considered to ensure children are able to adequately access and respond to the survey.

How does it feel to run a survey 365 days a year? The UK Graduate Outcomes survey experience.

Dr Gosia Turner (The Higher Education Statistical Agency (part of Jisc)) - Presenting Author

The Graduate Outcomes survey is the largest social survey in the UK. Every year it collects information from 900k+ graduates on their activities 15 months post-graduation, whether they are working, studying, or doing something else. If they are in employment, we ask about their job title, employer’s name, their job duties, and their annual salary. This information is used by the UK Higher Education regulator, various UK government departments, it informs choices of prospective students in the UK and around the World, it features in league tables and is frequently and widely quoted in the media. The Graduate Outcomes data provides the most reliable and complete picture of graduate employability in the UK.
The Graduate Outcomes survey is a population survey using the census of UK students collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency. This session will introduce delegates to our unique methodological approach and will include details on the sampling frame and collecting contact details, mode of collection, continuous fieldwork, engagement strategy, data quality control processes and technological solutions used to share data between us and our survey partners, including UK universities.