Study title

Virtual Youth Work 2007: Youth Survey

Dataset ID Number

FSD2533

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2533
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2533

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 the social virtual world Habbo Hotel and online youth counselling carried out there by the Netari.fi project. The respondents were young people who use Habbo Hotel. Data were also collected from parents using the Suomi24 service (FSD2534).

First, the respondents rated the importance of various communication channels (press, radio, television, Internet and other communication networks, books, movies, mobile phone). The next set of questions covered patterns of Internet use: location of use, duration, frequency, location of computer at home, number of computers at home, type of user and for what used the Internet (e.g. online banking, music, chatting, games, shopping). The respondents were asked how familiar they were with a number of Finnish and international online web services and how strictly specific online discussion forums were moderated. Views were probed on how useful the Internet was for various things, for instance, for information searching, keeping in touch with others, shopping etc. The survey also investigated whether parents participated in the respondents' Internet use, what kind of advice they had given regarding the use, and whether they put any restrictions on the use.

Patterns of Habbo Hotel use were charted: frequency, duration, parental attitudes, activities done in Habbo during the past month, methods of acquiring property, membership in groups, use of money in Habbo etc. The respondents were also asked how important various aspects of Habbo were to them and to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to Habbo.

The survey investigated the use, opinions on and knowledge of the Netari virtual youth house and online youth counselling carried out there. The respondents were asked whether they had visited the youth house, how often, how they perceived the youth house and whether the presence of youth workers had increased the time or amount of money they spent in Habbo.

One theme pertained to money. Questions covered how much money the respondents received from parents and other sources and what they would do if they had more money. Futher questions explored how difficult it would be for the respondents to give up certain things (such as the mobile phone, certain things in Habbo, a real pet etc), how important a number of things (e.g. a fine room in Habbo or stylish clothes) were to them, and what kind of gifts they liked. Opinions on the best brands of mobile phones, clothes and magazines were charted. The respondents were also asked to define what kind of consumers they were.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, economic activity or at which level studying, number of siblings, household composition, type of accommodation, housing tenure, number of cars in the household, holidays abroad during the past year, and employment situation of the parents.

Keywords

consumers; expenditure; income; internet; 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

2007-06-28 – 2007-07-06

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Users of the virtual networking service Habbo Hotel

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

A link to the online questionnaire was provided for Habbo Hotel service users in the news section of the service between 28 June - 6 July 2007. Altoghether, there were 2,065 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

FSD2534 Virtual Youth Work 2007: Parents' 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: Youth Survey [dataset]. Data version 2.0 (2018-07-19). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2533; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2533

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.