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 surveyed Finnish six- and seven-year-olds' thoughts on safety. Safety is explored through five themes: things that promote safety, how safety is experienced in different environments, experiences of insecurity, the definition of safety and children's experiences of being interviewed.
First, the child's parent was asked for background information, followed by questions for the child. First, the child was asked about things that make him or her feel safe. The things that promote safety were divided into things, places and people. Next, the experience of safety in different environments was discussed. The child was asked about the experience of safety at preschool and outdoors. The child was also asked what makes or would make being outside safe. In relation to experiences of insecurity, the children's experiences of fear, things and places that cause fear and things that ease fear were explored. The definition of safety was explored by asking children directly what they thought safety meant. Finally, they were asked for their opinion on responding to the survey.
Background variables included the child's gender, region and major region of residence, number of parents/guardians and children in the household, parents' education level, financial situation of the household and the language used in the interview.
The sample was randomly selected from the population system of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, containing Finnish and Swedish-speaking households in mainland Finland with at least one child born in 2015. The data collection was targeted at children whose mother tongue was either of the official languages, Finnish or Swedish. Only people with a permanent address in the population system who had not applied for a direct marketing restriction or a non-disclosure for personal safety were included in the sample. The sample consisted of both the child and one of the child's parents, primarily the mother. The sample size was 6,000. The data was collected by telephone interviews, for which the telephone numbers of the sampled parents were obtained from the Bisnode Ltd. personal marketing register. The phone number of 2,130 parents was found in the register. The sample was supplemented as the data collection progressed by extracting a telephone number sample of 998 persons from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. A total of 3,128 households were sent an information letter about the study. Of these, 404 participated in the survey. There were 844 parents or children who refused to take part in the survey. The remaining 1,880 households were, for example, not contacted or not called after the response quota had been reached.
Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with children. Telephone interviews were conducted by nine persons and were conducted in Finnish and Swedish. The interviews were conducted by calling the child's parent, primarily the mother, within approximately two weeks of sending an advance letter and asking for willingness to participate in the study. If the parent and child gave their consent and it was suitable for them, the child was interviewed immediately, or a suitable interview time was arranged as needed. The interviewers recorded the children's responses word for word exactly as the child said they would.