What Now?: Exploring Community Relations among 16-year olds in Northern Ireland

Abstract

In order to provide a voice for younger people within selected households, the Young Life and Times (YLT) survey was set up to run alongside the adult survey. One of the main aims of YLT was to provide a mechanism to compare the views of adult respondents with those of all 12 to 17 year olds living in the same household. However, in 2001 a review of YLT was undertaken. A consultation with users of YLT found that although the interest in a young people’s survey was generally very high, directly comparing young people’s attitudes to those of the adult population was of relatively limited concern to those asked. The broad age-range of respondents resulted in problems of questionnaire design. For example, questions and topics appropriate for 17 year olds were not appropriate for 12 year olds. There was also considerable unease about the methodological approach of the YLT survey in the then existing format. Interviewing young people in their homes, often in the presence of their parents, raised questions about the reliability of the collected data and the ethical implications of this approach. At the same time, interviewing young people in their schools in front of their peers seemed equally problematic.