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Methodological Challenges When Involving Children and Young People in Survey Research on Well-Being

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Measuring Youth Well-being

Part of the book series: Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research ((CHIR,volume 19))

Abstract

In the light of results of qualitative fieldwork carried out with children and young people within the MYWeB project, in this chapter, we follow three themes: (1) That the problem of attrition in quantitative surveys has to be understood and tackled qualitatively; (2) That the issue of attrition in longitudinal quantitative studies relates not just the fact that the sample gets smaller and the results less robust over time, but also because the people who drop out of studies generally possess the very characteristics of the group for which the survey itself was ultimately developed; (3) That it is important to ensure that young people themselves are participating in the research project’s design and implementation. This chapter considers strategies for motivating those groups to participate in research on well-being from a longitudinal perspective. Topics and strategies discussed include data-collection processes, the use of incentives, the use of particular strategies to ensure the presence of certain social groups, and feedback on the impact of the research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The proofreading of this chapter was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, project reference «UID/SOC/03126/2013»

  2. 2.

    People with very high and very low SES show fewer propensities to participate in longitudinal studies (Groves and Couper 1998).

  3. 3.

    That is, young people that are not involved with any political, environmental, social or voluntary organization, association, activity or cause in a systematic way or through formal membership.

  4. 4.

    Computer Assisted Personal Interview.

  5. 5.

    Computer Assisted Telephone Interview.

  6. 6.

    Computer Assisted Web Interview.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIES-IUL, University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Magda Nico & Nuno de Almeida Alves

  2. Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain

    Mariona Ferrer-Fons

  3. Catalan Youth Observatory (Catalan Youth Agency), Barcelona, Spain

    Pau Serracant

  4. Department of Political Science and Public Law, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Roger Soler-i-Martí

Authors
  1. Magda Nico
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  2. Nuno de Almeida Alves
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  3. Mariona Ferrer-Fons
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  4. Pau Serracant
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  5. Roger Soler-i-Martí
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Magda Nico .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom

    Gary Pollock

  2. Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom

    Jessica Ozan

  3. Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom

    Haridhan Goswami

  4. Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

    Gwyther Rees

  5. Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia

    Anita Stasulane

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Nico, M., de Almeida Alves, N., Ferrer-Fons, M., Serracant, P., Soler-i-Martí, R. (2018). Methodological Challenges When Involving Children and Young People in Survey Research on Well-Being. In: Pollock, G., Ozan, J., Goswami, H., Rees, G., Stasulane, A. (eds) Measuring Youth Well-being. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76063-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76063-6_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76062-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76063-6

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