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 dataset examined children's opinions and experiences of pre-primary education (preschool). Children's views and experiences were explored through questions concerning, for example, toys, play, learning, bullying, rest and mealtime at preschool.
First, the child's parent was asked for background information on the child, family and parents, after which the child was interviewed. The first questions for the children concerned toys, play and friends at preschool. For example, the children were asked whether they were allowed to play enough at preschool. Next, the children were asked what they had learned, what they needed help with from adults and what they were good at in preschool. After this, the children's experiences of rest time and bullying at preschool were investigated. Finally, the children were asked about mealtime and, in general, what they considered the most boring and the best aspects of preschool.
Background variables included the language used in the interview, number of children in the family, child's living arrangements and gender, region and major region, family's financial situation, the educational level of the parent with the higher education, whether the child attended one-year or two-year pre-primary education, and whether the child participated in complementary pre-primary education and care and the frequency of participation.
The sampling was carried out using simple random sampling from the Population Information System maintained by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The target population consisted of Finnish- and Swedish-speaking households in mainland Finland with a child born in 2017 at the time of data collection. Data collection focused on children whose registered mother tongue was either of Finland's official languages, Finnish or Swedish. Only individuals with a permanent address recorded in the Population Information System and without a non-disclosure order or a direct marketing ban were included in the selection. Both the child and one of their parents, primarily the mother, were drawn into the sample. A total of 4,000 individuals were selected through random sampling. The data were collected through telephone interviews, and the parents' phone numbers were obtained from Dun & Bradstreet Finland. An advance letter was sent to 3,800 households, of which 408 participated in the study.
The data collection was carried out using semi-structured interviews targeted at children. Nine interviewers conducted the telephone interviews in Finnish and Swedish. Approximately two weeks after the advance letter was sent, the parent's phone number, primarily the mother's, was called to ask about willingness to participate in the study. If both the parent and the child gave consent and agreed on a suitable time, the child's interview was conducted immediately or scheduled as needed. Interviewers recorded the children's responses verbatim, exactly as expressed by the child.