The Principal Investigators of the second wave of data collection met in Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey to present the lessons learned from the data collection and discuss the project’s further steps.
The meeting was opened with greetings of Prof. Ali Tekcan, Vice-President, Boğaziçi University and Prof. Asher Ben-Arieh.
In the first part of the meeting the data collection process in all countries was presented. The main conclusion was that despite the complexity of data collection and the size of the sample, the process of data collection went well and data collection was carried out according to schedule, for the most part. In addition, the questionnaires were properly understood by the children in all the countries and languages. Nevertheless, several challenges were identified by several countries mainly the great effort needed in some of the countries to get the approval of the sampled schools to participate in the survey, mostly because the large amount of studies that are being held in schools. Another matter discussed is the ethical procedures, in particular when the need for parental consent may prevent children the right to participate in the study, despite their own wish to do so.
The second part of the meeting was devoted to examine future analysis of the data and the possible implications of the project its findings for each of the participating countries and for the international perspective on children’s well-being. Options were discussed for dissemination of the findings locally and internationally, including research, professionals, policy makers, and the children themselves.
