Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
Data collection procedures for school-based surveys among adolescents: the Youth in Europe Study
Alfgeir Logi Kristjansson1, Jon Sigfusson, Inga Dora Sigfusdottir
1Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA. kristjansson@tc.columbia.edu
Background:
Collection of valid and reliable surveillance data as a basis for school health promotion and education policy and practice for children and adolescence is of great importance. However, numerous methodological and practical problems arise in the planning and collection of such survey data that need to be resolved in order to ensure the validity of the data and to maximize the response rate without being prohibitively costly.
Method:
This article builds on a 15-yearlong experience of such annual data collections in Iceland and describes the preparation, process, and collection of data that provide a common methodologic framework for the school-based survey, Youth in Europe, a population-based survey of 14- to 16-year-old adolescents, being collected across 18 European cities now participating in the European Cities Against Drugs (ECAD) program.
Results:
We identified 11 critical steps for developing and implementing the surveys in light of the recent literature on the preparation and implementation practices in school-based data collection among adolescents.
Conclusion:
Limiting the disruption of daily operations in schools while at the same time ensuring both quality and clarity of data collection procedures in school-based surveys are of paramount importance for researchers, school personnel, and students.
Related Concept Videos
Surveys
Cross-Sectional Research
Case Studies
Data Collection by Survey
Data Collection by Observations
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
Study Designs in Epidemiology
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies.
