Methods and representativeness of a European survey in children and adolescents: the KIDSCREEN study

Abstract

Background: The objective of the present study was to compare three different sampling and questionnaire administration methods used in the international KIDSCREEN study in terms of participation, response rates, and external validity.

Changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population-based sample of children and adolescents after 3 years of follow-up

“…The Spanish KIDSCREEN baseline sample was recruited between May and November 2003 as part of the European KIDSCREEN fieldwork [13]. A stratified sampling strategy was used to include children proportionally by age, sex, and geographical areas based on census data.…”

Aging and the Use of Pedestrian Facilities in Winter—The Need for Improved Design and Better Technology

“…People with lower incomes or lower education levels, are less likely to participate in surveys and those in the lowest educational category tend to be underrepresented. 39 Therefore, other methods need to be developed in the future to increase the participation of underrepresented groups, such as focus group or observational methods. Additionally, our findings are limited by a low response rate and relatively small, predominantly female (66 %) and young (62 %) sample.…”

Experiências com a atenção primária associadas à saúde, características sociodemográficas e uso de serviços em crianças e adolescentes

“…Based on studies of representativeness in similar types of health surveys in children, selection bias could affect results if those who refused to participate had poorer health 44 and if morbidity is associated with worse experience with access to primary care, as was the case in the present analysis. However, refusals to participate in the current survey were low and refusals were replaced with cases selected by random, from individuals of a similar age and the same sex, living in the same area.…”

“…No additional information was gathered from refusals to characterize their health or use of services so it was not possible to analyze the possibility of bias in greater depth. Moreover, health surveys employing multistage random sampling of communities and households are likely to achieve more representative and better balanced samples in terms of age, sex, and place of residence (urban-rural) samples than institutional samples or studies of health services in which users are interviewed in waiting rooms 44 .…”