Читать книгу Pediatric Epidemiology - Группа авторов - Страница 28

Asking children about their experiences and perspectives requires approaches that may differ considerably from those used successfully in adults. Particularly for young children, common survey or interview methods have limited applicability, as they are not in tune with the child’s level of psychological and emotional development, and therefore may give limited information about what they have experienced. Children may also be afraid to disclose their experiences in interviews and even in anonymous surveys, out of loyalty to a caregiver or fear of repercussions. Despite these limitations, it is vital to obtain children’s personal experiences and perspectives in order to understand the scope and extent of the problem. As previously mentioned, surveys among self-reporting adolescents can provide current and accurate information that carries less risk of memory bias. Specifically focused studies can also provide accurate information on underserved populations as well as knowledge of peer violence.

Lower socioeconomic status is commonly associated with lower levels of participation in survey studies. However, the US national survey of children’s exposure to violence in 2014 indicated that those youths for whom parental consent was refused for the interview came from households with more educated parents, healthier children, higher income and less school or neighbourhood violence or from families with younger school children [18]. Conversely, immigrant parents were overrepresented among those who refused participation in the national Swedish (personal experience). Systematic deviations in response rates such as these must be taken into account when analysing the data and discussing the findings.

Interestingly, a low response rate does not necessarily increase the bias of a sample. There are studies that have shown little association between response rate and the size of non-response bias [19, 20].