What does participation mean for the school and the students?

The research is conducted on an annual basis at approximately 50 secondary schools throughout the Netherlands. The data collection started in autumn 2018/2019, where we administered questionnaires to all first-year students in the participating schools. In order to monitor the development of democratic values, we will continue to survey these students each following year over the course of their school career. Schools are asked to give permission for data collection each year.

When your school participates in our study, the students in the classroom will complete a questionnaire. The questions cover different topics within the broader theme of democracy and politics, such as what students think about freedom of speech and whether they intend to vote in the future. The questions are answered on tablets provided by the researchers. The survey takes approximately one full class period. Members of the research team will be present during the data collection to answer any questions from students.

Following participation, your school will receive feedback from us in the form of several reports describing the situation regarding democratic values. This concerns the following reports:

1. You will receive a customised report specifically for your school, providing insight into the support for democratic values among your own students. This report is confidential and only accessible for your school.
2. Additionally, you will receive a general report describing the state of democratic values among adolescents in the Netherlands.

In the future, we also aim to offer a digital and interactive report that allows schools to create graphs based on the results and compare themselves over time and with other schools on topics that are important to the school.

These reports are confidential and anonymous. In the general reports, the findings cannot be traced back to individual schools, classes, or students.

You can find more information about the privacy of your students here.

If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at info@adks.nl.