Study title

Virtual Youth Work 2007: Parents' Survey

Dataset ID Number

FSD2534

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2534

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Merikivi, Jani (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Sulake Corporation
• Turku School of Economics

Abstract

The survey studied Internet use, the use of the social virtual world Habbo Hotel by the respondents' children and online youth counselling carried out in Habbo Hotel by the Netari.fi project. The respondents were users of the social networking website Suomi24 who were also parents of minors. Data were also collected from young people using Habbo Hotel services (FSD2533).

First, the respondents were asked about the location of the computer with Internet connection at home. They rated the importance of various communication channels (press, radio, television, Internet and other communication networks, books, movies, mobile phone). Internet use was charted by enquiring how often the respondents used the Internet and for what (e.g. online banking, music, chatting, e-mail, games, shopping). They were asked how familiar they were with a number of Finnish and international online web services and how strictly specific discussion forums were moderated. Views were probed on the usefulness of the Internet for children and youngsters (e.g. for information searching, keeping in touch with others, self-expression etc.) and possible harms of the use (e.g. violent content, lack of exercise or sleep, unwanted contacts, addiction). Parental participation and advice given regarding the Internet use of the minors were charted, as well as restrictions imposed on the use.

One theme pertained to their children's use of the Habbo Hotel virtual world. The respondents were asked whether they approve of the use, how safe they considered the site to be, what their children did in Habbo, and did they approve of spending money on virtual products.

Views on the youth counselling provided in the Habbo Hotel youth house were charted next. The respondents were asked how important such youth work was, who should finance virtual youth work, how useful different virtual youth services were, should the services be local or national, and could they allow their children to spend more time or money in Habbo on account of the youth services provided there.

Some questions covered children's sources of income (e.g. work, relatives, trading with friends, pocket money from parents), attitudes to children spending money on certain things (e.g. clothes, certain products in Habbo, new DVD movie), what did their children spend their money on and what kind of consumers the children were (e.g. impulsive - careful buyers, spendthrift - economical) .

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, marital status, education, economic activity, education and economic activity of the partner/spouse, annual gross income of the household, number and gender of underage children.

Keywords

Internet; consumers; expenditure; income; online services; parental supervision; social media; virtual communities; youth; youth culture; youth work

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Consumption and consumer behaviour (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Information society (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Family life and marriage (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Merikivi, Jani (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)

Data Producers

• City of Helsinki. Youth Department
• Save the Children Finland

Time Period Covered

2007

Collection Dates

2007-06-21 – 2007-06-28

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Users of the Suomi24 online services

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

A link to the online questionnaire was provided for Suomi24 service users at the front page of the service between 21 June - 28 June 2007. It was possible for any user to fill in the questionnaire but they were informed that the intended target population was parents and guardians of underage children and young people. Altoghether, there were 2,323 responses.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Semi-structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2533 Virtual Youth Work 2007: Youth Survey

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data archive does not have the final version of the questionnaire. There are slight dissimilarities between the data and the preliminary version of the questionnaire the archive has.

The variable identifying municipality of residence has been removed from the data. Names and other personal information appearing in responses to the open-ended questions have been anonymised.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Merikivi, Jani (Finnish Youth Research Society): Virtual Youth Work 2007: Parents' Survey [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-19). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2534

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Merikivi, Jani (2007). Netari.fi - Nuorisotyön arvo. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseura. Verkkojulkaisuja; 14.

Related Publications

Merikivi, Jani (2007). Netari.fi - Nuorisotyön arvo. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseura. Verkkojulkaisuja; 14.