Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Young Life and Times Survey (YLT) originally began as a companion survey to the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) series. It surveyed young people aged 12-17 living in the households of adults interviewed for NILT, and YLT ran alongside it from 1998-2000. Following an evaluation in 2001, the YLT series recommenced in 2003 (see SN 4826) using a completely different methodology and independent of the adult NILT. This new YLT survey uses Child Benefit records as a sampling frame.The aims of the YLT series are to: monitor public attitudes towards social policy and political issues in Northern Ireland; provide a time series on attitudes to key social policy areas; facilitate academic social policy analysis; provide a freely available resource on public attitudes for the wider community of users in Northern Ireland; give a voice to young people. An open access time-series teaching dataset has been created from the 2003-2012 YLTs - see SN 7548.The Kids’ Life and Times (KLT) survey of P7 children (10-11 year olds) is also part of the same suite of surveys as YLT and NILT.Further information about the YLT, including publications, may be found on the Access Research Knowledge (ARK) YLT webpages.
YLT 2020-21The YLT survey has been conducted annually since its inception. However, the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 meant that the survey field originally planned for the last quarter of 2020 had to be postponed to May 2021. All 16-year-olds who celebrated their 16th birthday in April, May and June 2021 were invited to take part.
Main Topics:
In 2020-21 the following topics were included in the survey: Background; Community Relations (including minority ethnic groups) - funded by the Executive Office (TEO previously the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister); Coercive Control – funded by Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) and the Public Health Agency (PHA); COVID-19 - funded by the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY); Safety and Attitudes to Paramilitaries – funded by the Department of Justice (DoJ); Shared Education and Community Relations, Equality and Diversity Education – funded by the Department of Education (DE); Mental Health – funded by Ohio University HCOM; Politics funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant held at QUB.
One-stage stratified or systematic random sample
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
