A range of methodological challenges accompanies survey research, from specification of the research questions and associated measurements, to minimising coverage, sampling and response errors. Cross-national surveys need a balance to be struck between standardisation and use of culture-specific or appropriate techniques. In addition, all projects have practical and financial restrictions. This chapter offers an overview of the data set and methodological approaches adopted for the EU Kids Online project.

Questionnaire design includes content and response formats. The process of sampling and survey administration is described in this chapter, followed by fieldwork procedures and research ethics. The sampling, data entry and coding were conducted by a single agency to guarantee consistency of procedures across countries. To oversee national agencies and integrate feedback from national network members of EU Kids Online, nation-specific methods were employed (see Ipsos/EU Kids Online, 2011). The structure of the data set is described (see the Appendix at the end of the book for the key variables), including relations among country-level sampling and fieldwork variables. All methodological decisions imply some degree of error; there were also variations in the application of the research methodology across countries, thus, interpretation of pan-European or country differences should be made with caution.

Questionnaire development

Questionnaire development involves considerations of aspects such as wording of questions, response formats, comprehensibility and length. Designing a questionnaire to be administered to children in different age groups, from different cultural backgrounds, who speak different languages, is especially complex (cf Lobe et al, 2008). The questions must be age-appropriate, and should comply with ethical guidelines. Comprehensibility for the range of different age and language groups is important for reliability and validity of responses. Those involved in the project – often members of a multinational and multidisciplinary network – need to be satisfied with the end product. The EU Kids Online II questionnaire took account of all these aspects and was developed within the overall theoretical framework outlined in Chapter 1. Children were interviewed face-to-face to obtain responses to questions in most sections of the questionnaire, and were then given the most sensitive questions in a questionnaire form for them to complete on their own. For each child, one parent/carer was also given a questionnaire with a selection of questions that matched the questions in the child survey.