Conferences

Large-scale quantitative surveys of children are valuable as they can be used to compare data from across different age-groups and countries, and over time. However, the issues involved are complex. Children are not simply ‘small adults’; rather they are a special group whose intellectual abilities and attention span differ from those of adults. Quantitative research designed to be carried out with children needs to take account of these disparities along with a range of other factors such as ethics, consent and the use of questions on sensitive topics. The flexibility and confidential nature of computer-assisted self-administered interviews (CASI) are especially suitable for children and can be designed in ways that overcome some of these issues. Nevertheless, there are drawbacks associated with using CASI; for example children’s responses may be affected by the knowledge that the information they provide is held locally on the computer and could potentially be accessed by parents or teachers. Kids’ Life and Times (KLT) is a large quantitative survey of Primary 7 children (age 10 and 11 years) in Northern Ireland which was carried out online and in schools in June 2008. Approximately 24,000 children within 918 primary schools were invited to take part. This presentation will discuss the issues involved in designing survey research for use with children in general, and examine the development and implementation of the KLT survey in particular.