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Hearing children’s voices: designing and pre-testing questions for children and young people |
| Coordinator 1 | Ms Alice McGee (Verian) |
| Coordinator 2 | Ms Lucy Campbell (Verian) |
Session Details
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.
