Methodological challenges when involving children and young people in survey research on well-being

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.