Child Barometers study the everyday lives of 6-7‑year‑old Finnish children. The surveys are conducted by the Office of Ombudsman for Children. The objective of the barometers is to investigate the children's own experiences on topics that are relevant to them. Depending on the target population of each survey, the respondents have been either the children themselves or both the children and their parents. The first barometer was conducted in 2016, after which data have been collected every other year.
The study charted how 6-year-old Finnish children exercised and spent their leisure time. Both the children and their parents were interviewed for the study. The study was funded by the State Youth Council.
First, the parents were asked about their children's hobbies, participation in instructed activities during leisure time and the amount of exercise they got. Reasons behind the child not exercising (e.g. they did not like exercise, had no time or had a fear of not succeeding) were also charted. The parents whose children did exercise were asked whether various statements corresponded to their children's exercise activities and hobbies, for example, whether the child found it fun and found friends through the hobby and whether the instruction was of good quality educationally. Views were also charted on what the parents thought the children's hobbies should be like by presenting the same statements as in the previous question. Finally, the parents were asked to evaluate how much they paid for their children's exercise activities and hobbies per month.
After the parents had completed their survey, the children were interviewed. They were asked how they exercised, what was fun about exercising and how they would want to exercise. The children's opinions on good exercise places were also charted, as well as whether they thought competing with others was fun. The children's leisure time was examined with questions concerning what they liked or did not like to do on the weekends. They were also asked whether the exercise activities and hobbies their parents had mentioned were fun for them, whether they had friends and whether they wanted to have more friends.
The background variables included the child's mother tongue, age and area of residence, as well as the parents' level of education, financial circumstances and the number of children and parents/guardians in the family.
The sample was drawn randomly from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. The sample consisted of households where at least one 6-year-old child was living at the time. The data also include children whose mother tongue is not Finnish (13 children). In total, 2,375 children were included in the sample from the Population Information System. Phone numbers for 1,147 parents or guardians were available, constituting 48 percent of the sample. Phone interviews were conducted with 102 persons from this group by Feelback. 50 face-to-face interviews were conducted in cooperation by Feelback and Norstat. For the face-to-face interviews, 34 respondents were from the random sample contacted through phone calls and 16 were drawn from among the Norstat panel. The final group of respondents consisted of 152 persons.
From those invited to the face-to-face interview through phone calls, 8 percent agreed to participate in the study. Invitation to participate was sent to 632 parents or guardians of 6-9-year-olds in the Norstat panel. Of the 632, 98 (16%) expressed interest in participating in the study. From this group, 16 parents or guardians and 6-year-old children were chosen to be interviewed.