Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora), nowadays called the State Youth Council, started to produce Youth Surveys in 1994. This survey series charts attitudes and expectations of Finnish young people aged 15 - 29. Each survey contains both current questions and recurring questions which are repeated over time, enabling the study of long-term attitude changes. The main themes include attitudes to education, working life, social security, spending, drug use, and young people's willingness to participate in order to influence decision-making.
Themes of the Finnish Youth Survey 2017 included learning and education. Questions charted experiences of learning in and outside of school.
First, the respondents' views on learning, life skills and education were examined with attitudinal statements concerning, for instance, the significance of general knowledge and practical life skills, the importance of receiving feedback, evaluating the trustworthiness of information sources, the impact of education on employment, and Swedish as an obligatory subject in school.
The respondents were asked to estimate the extent to which they had learned different skills at school and outside of school, for example, general knowledge, language skills, creativity, internationality, tolerance, decision-making abilities, social skills, media skills, financial knowledge, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, the respondents' views on the significance of these same skills for faring well in life were charted.
Next, the respondents were presented with attitudinal statements according to which they evaluated their own time in comprehensive school and whether school had been enjoyable, e.g. with regard to their social relations with teachers and other pupils. In addition, the respondents were asked to estimate the effect of different factors on employment (e.g. talent, persistence, family background, residential location, chance). They were also asked whether they participated in the activities of any organisation or civic movement that aimed to influence society. The respondents' sense of belonging to their school or work community as well as the Finnish society more generally was examined. Finally, they were asked how meaningful they considered their daily lives and to what extent they felt that their lives had a sense of management, what sort of effects a possible lack of money had caused in their lives, whether they trusted other people, and how satisfied they were with their relationships and their lives in general.
Background variables included gender, age, municipality of residence (categorised), years R had lived in current municipality of residence, how many times R had moved or switched schools, mother tongue (categorised), type of residence, household composition, R's and parents' country of birth (categorised), year of moving to Finland, parents' educational level, and perceived financial situation of the household. Some background variables also asked detailed questions regarding, for instance, employment, studies, motivations for studying, and quitting studies.
The sample was randomly drawn from the population register. Quotas were used based on gender (2), age group (15-19, 20-24, 25-29) and mother tongue (Finnish, Swedish, other).
In total, 1,902 persons were interviewed. A total of 6,152 persons declined, so the number of respondents was 31 percent of the number of those who declined, which has been a typical ratio of respondents in recent Youth Surveys.