Research Online website. .... FAQ 8: When is it best to use a longitudinal design? ..... Try not to use a particular method just because it seems like a part of your 'research .... children's activities and compare the answers with the children's own ...
Bojana Lobe, Sonia Livingstone, Kjartan Olafsson, and José Alberto Simões
Best practice research guide: how to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective Report Original citation: Lobe, Bojana and Livingstone, Sonia and Olafsson, Kjartan and Alberto Simões, José (2008) Best practice research guide: how to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective. EU Kids Online, Deliverable D4.2. EU Kids Online Network, London, UK. ISBN 9780853283546 This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21658/ Originally available from EU Kids Online Available in LSE Research Online: August 2012 The EU Kids Online network has received funding from the European Community’s Safer Internet Programme. The authors are solely responsible for the contents of this report. It does not represent the opinion of the Community and nor is the Community responsible for any use that might be made of information contained in it. © 2008 European Community Safer Internet Plus Programme and Sonia Livingstone LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website.
Co-funded by the European Union
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Best Practice Research Guide:
How to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective
European Research on Cultural, Contextual and Risk Issues in Children’s Safe Use of the Internet and New Media (2006-2009) A project funded by the EC Safer Internet Plus Programme – http://ec.europa.eu/saferinternet
ww www.eukidsonline.net www ww.e
ISBN 978-0-85328-354-6
Best Practice Research Guide: How to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective Editors Bojana Lobe, Sonia Livingstone, Kjartan Olafsson and José Alberto Simões Contributors Elena Aristodemou, Joke Bauwens, Cátia Candeias, Verónica Donoso, Cédric Fluckiger, Maialen Garmendia, Leslie Haddon, Veronika Kalmus, Lucyna Kirwil, Claudia Lampert, Sofia Leitão, Bojana Lobe, Sonia Livingstone, Kjartan Olafsson, Ingrid Paus-Hasebrink, Cristina Ponte, José Alberto Simões, Elisabeth Staksrud, Panayiota Tsatsou, Bieke Zaman This is a report from the EU Kids Online network, June 2008 For a complete list of participants, see Annex B Please cite this report as follows: Lobe, B., Livingstone, S., Olafsson, K., and Simões, J. A. (2008) Best Practice Research Guide: How to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective. London: EU Kids Online (Deliverable D4.2). European Research on Cultural, Contextual and Risk Issues in Children's Safe Use of the Internet and New Media The EU Kids Online network is funded by the EC Safer Internet plus Programme) from 2006-9 (SIP-2005MD-038229; http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htm). It examines research findings from 21 member states into how children and young people use the internet and new online technologies. This three year collaboration aims to identify comparable findings across Europe and to evaluate the social, cultural and regulatory influences affecting online opportunities and risks, along with children’s and parents' responses, in order to inform policy. It is charting available data, pinpointing gaps and identifying factors that shape the research capability of European research institutions. Finally, it examines methodological issues relating to the cross-cultural study of children’s online experience. See www.eukidsonline.net.
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Contents Contents................................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................4 The Best Practice Research Guide.....................................................................................................................5 I. Designing the research .....................................................................................................................................6 FAQ 1: When is it better to do qualitative or quantitative research? ................................................................6 FAQ 2: How do I design a project with multiple data sources? ........................................................................9 FAQ 3: When is it best to use focus group, in-depth interviews or observations? ........................................10 FAQ 4: How should quantitative research be evaluated? ...............................................................................13 FAQ 5: How should qualitative research be evaluated? .................................................................................14 FAQ 6: How young a child can one work with? ...............................................................................................15 FAQ 7: In comparative research, how do I choose which countries to compare? ........................................17 FAQ 8: When is it best to use a longitudinal design? ......................................................................................20 II. Sampling and Recruitment ............................................................................................................................22 FAQ 9: How do we sample children for qualitative research? ........................................................................22 FAQ 10: How do you sample children for quantitative research? ..................................................................24 FAQ 11: Is it OK to interview parents as informants on their children?..........................................................26 FAQ 12: How can I recruit particular subgroups of children? .........................................................................28 FAQ 13: What are the ethical issues involved in researching children? ........................................................29 FAQ 14: Should I provide incentives for children to take part in the research? ............................................32 III. Methods of data collection............................................................................................................................33 FAQ 15: What are the best ways to interview children?..................................................................................33 FAQ 16: What are the best ways to construct a survey questionnaire? ........................................................35 FAQ 17: How do I order the questions in a survey or interview? ...................................................................37 FAQ 18: What are some good tips for phrasing questions in a survey to children? .....................................38 FAQ 19: How should I refer to children’s media/activities?.............................................................................40 FAQ 20: How do you adjust data collection methods for different age groups? ...........................................42 FAQ 21: Who should interview children – what difference does it make? .....................................................44 FAQ 22: How do I ask children questions about time use? ............................................................................45 FAQ 23: What’s the best way of asking children sensitive questions? ..........................................................47 FAQ 24: What’s the best way to ask about parental mediation? ....................................................................50 FAQ 25: Is it better to research children at home, at school or elsewhere? ..................................................52 FAQ 27: How do we maximise the reliability and validity of children’s answers? .........................................55 FAQ 28: What shall I do if a child respondent seems to be at risk? ...............................................................57 FAQ 29: What do I need to know to do research with children online? .........................................................58 FAQ 30: What are the key issues when collecting data in more than one country? .....................................60 IV. Approaches to data analysis........................................................................................................................62 FAQ 31: What are some good approaches to analysing qualitative data? ....................................................62 FAQ 32: What are some good approaches to analysing quantitative data? .................................................64 FAQ 33: How do I bring qualitative and quantitative data together? ..............................................................66 FAQ 34: How do I compare data from parents and children?.........................................................................68 V. Reporting the findings ...................................................................................................................................70 FAQ 35: How do I report my qualitative data? .................................................................................................70 FAQ 36: How do I report my quantitative data? ...............................................................................................72 FAQ 37: How shall I compare my findings with research by others? .............................................................74 FAQ 38: How can I ensure my findings are not misunderstood? ...................................................................75 FAQ 39: Should I give feedback on the findings to my interviewees? ...........................................................77 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................78 Annex A: EU Kids Online ...................................................................................................................................82 Annex B: EU Kids Online members ..................................................................................................................83 Annex C: Good practice resources ...................................................................................................................85
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Introduction Across Europe and beyond, children and young people are going online in ever greater numbers and for ever more activities. The 2005/6 Eurobarometer survey shows that 50% of children (
