FSD4047 Early Childhood Education and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey 2020-2021
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Study title
Early Childhood Education and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey 2020-2021
Dataset ID Number
FSD4047
Persistent identifiers
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD4047https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd4047
Data Type
Quantitative
Authors
- Alasuutari, Maarit (University of Jyväskylä)
- Sulkanen, Mimmu (University of Jyväskylä)
- Räikkönen, Eija (University of Jyväskylä)
- Lammi-Taskula, Johanna (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)
- Närvi, Johanna (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)
Abstract
The survey examined the circumstances of families in Finland with five-year-old children regarding arrangements for early childhood education and childcare, health and development, and family life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guardians were asked about these themes at three time points: at the time of response (November 2020-January 2021), during the COVID-19 state of emergency in spring 2020, and in January 2020 prior to the state of emergency. The information for all three time points was collected retrospectively in a single survey.
First, respondents were asked about their five-year-old child's childcare and early childhood education arrangements at different time points, their satisfaction with these arrangements, any changes that occurred, and the reasons for those changes. In addition, respondents were asked about their employment situation and changes during the state of emergency due to COVID-19, such as changes of workplace, working hours, and the increase in remote work.
Next, respondents were asked about their own and their child's health, as well as their use of services intended for families. They were also asked about work-family balance, the division of labor between spouses, and parenting. Finally, respondents were asked about their views on the COVID-19 pandemic and early childhood education measures during the pandemic.
Background variables include, among others, the respondent's age group, gender, type of municipality, region of residence, marital status, family composition, and household income, as well as the respondent's and spouse's level of education, economic activity, and employment-related information. Background information on the five-year-old child includes, among others, gender, year of birth, and living arrangements.
Keywords
child care; child day care; child development; children; covid-19; early childhood; families; family life; parental role; parents; pre-primary education; well-being (society)
Topic Classification
- Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
- Children (CESSDA Topic Classification)
- Family life and marriage (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Series
Individual datasetsDistributor
Finnish Social Science Data Archive
Access
The dataset is (D) available only by permission from the data depositor/creator.
Data Collector
- University of Jyväskylä
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Funders
- Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM/481/520/2020)
Time Period Covered
2020 – 2021
Collection Dates
2020-11-16 – 2021-01-15
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis/Observation Unit Type
Individual
Family
Universe
All parents and guardians in the municipalities of Joensuu, Kajaani, Kemi, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Rovaniemi, Tornio, and Vaasa, as well as half of the parents and guardians in the Turku area who have a child born between October 1, 2014, and September 30, 2015 (excluding multiple-birth parents), as well as all parents who participated in the 2019 Childcare survey and expressed their willingness to participate in the follow-up study.
Time Method
Cross-section
Sampling Procedure
Non-probability: Purposive
The study sample consisted of two components. In the first component, municipalities were purposively selected based on the COVID-19 situation in spring 2020, including areas with both low and high numbers of confirmed cases. The selection also aimed to ensure broad geographical coverage across Finland. The municipalities included Joensuu, Kajaani, Kemi, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Rovaniemi, Tornio, Turku and Vaasa. All parents and guardians of children born between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2015 (approximately five-year-olds) were invited to participate from all selected municipalities except Turku, where a partial systematic random sample was drawn from population register data. Parental contact details were obtained from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in October 2020. Due to system limitations, data were not available for parents living at a different address than their child. This first component included 7,227 parents representing 4,261 children.
The second component consisted of respondents from the 2019 CHILDCARE survey, which targeted parents of children born during the same period. Parents who had consented to follow-up contact were invited to participate (N = 1,609, 1,286 children). Updated contact information was retrieved from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in October 2020.
In total, 8,836 parents (5,648 children) were invited to participate. The survey was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021 as an online survey (Webropol) in Finnish, Swedish and English, with a paper questionnaire available in Finnish. Two reminders were sent, the latter including a paper questionnaire. A total of 1,850 parents (1,603 children) responded, yielding a response rate of 20.9% at the parent level and 28.4% at the child level.
Collection Mode
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Research Instrument
Structured questionnaire
Response Rate
20.9
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
1.0
Related Datasets
FSD3578 Early Childhood Education and Care Survey 2019
Completeness of Data and Restrictions
Missing data coded as −1 mainly indicates that the respondent did not answer the question at all. Some respondents selected multiple response options for questions where only one option should have been chosen according to the survey instructions. Such responses have been recoded as missing data (−1) in the following variables: k10 battery, k12 battery, k15, k18, k20, k21, k23, k24, k25, k26, k60_1, and k60_2. In addition, in some cases duplicate responses have been handled by retaining the more extreme value, or, if one of the responses was 'not applicable / cannot say,” this value was retained. Missing data coded as 0, in turn, indicates cases where the respondent did not select the given option in that question, or invalid duplicate responses in paper questionnaires that were treated as missing data. Variables with names ending in the letter K (e.g. k33_1K) have been somehow modified by the researcher.
The researcher has planned the anonymisation of the data and recoded the following variables for identifiability reasons: respondent's age (ika_5lk), respondent's marital status (k3_K), the respondent's and their partner's main activity (k10 and k12 variable batteries), childcare arrangements of the 5-year-old (k29 and k38 variable batteries), the early childhood education setting of the 5-year-old (K50_3lk), and the respondent's country of birth (k86_2lk). In addition, the researcher has removed some open-ended variables and recoded some open-ended responses to the response option "Other, please specify" into existing response categories.
To prevent the identification of respondents and in accordance with the researcher's plan, the remaining open-ended responses, as well as the variables describing the spouse's gender (Question 4) and the area of developmental or health challenges of five-year-olds (Question 63), were removed from the data at FSD. In addition, variables relating to the age and number of children have been combined, and the number of children has been top-coded.
The variable battery corresponding to question 66 has been removed from the data at FSD, as the use of the Survey of Children's Individual Differences (SIDCA) instrument is subject to a licence.
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
Alasuutari, Maarit (University of Jyväskylä) & Sulkanen, Mimmu (University of Jyväskylä) & Räikkönen, Eija (University of Jyväskylä) & Lammi-Taskula, Johanna (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare) & Närvi, Johanna (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare): Early Childhood Education and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey 2020-2021 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2026-03-19). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd4047; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD4047
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
Sulkanen, M., Alasuutari, M., Närvi, J., & Lammi-Taskula, J. (2021). Lapsiperheiden hyvinvointi koronapandemian aikana : Osaraportti 1: Aineistonkeruu, metodit ja vastaajat. Jyväskylän yliopisto. JYU Reports, 4. https://doi.org/10.17011/jyureports/2021/4
Related Publications
Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format
FSD:n aineistokuvailut (FSD metadata records) by Suomen yhteiskuntatieteellinen tietoarkisto (Finnish Social Science Data Archive) are licensed under a Creative Commons 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) license.