Collecting data during COVID-19 times

In early March, we visited one of the last schools for the second round of the DAPDV research. There was an excited atmosphere among the students, a few seats remained noticeably empty, and in the staff room, there were lively discussions about the usefulness of closing or not closing schools. Not even two weeks later, we were in an "intelligent lockdown". Schools were closed, and we were sitting at home at the kitchen table behind our laptops.

The COVID-19 crisis has had unprecedented consequences. First and foremost, of course, for the schools and the students, but also for the way we conduct research. However, it is important that we continue to listen to adolescents and continue to monitor how they think about politics and democracy. Especially during this time when there is much discussion in society about the measures and the core values of the democratic rule of law. A period in which Mark Rutte regularly appears on television and other media, and influencers convey political messages. How do these developments influence the opinions of youngsters about politics and democracy? And does this apply to all young people? Because we have been monitoring around 2,000 students in 49 schools in the Netherlands since 2018, we can start answering these questions. That is why we are once again committed to administering questionnaires to these students this school year.

We are now facing the challenge of how to organise all of this. We are thinking hard about online data collection and will discuss the practical implementation with the schools.

Meanwhile, Ellis Aizenberg has joined our team, we have prepared the data from the second panel wave for analysis, and we are finalising the reports for the participating schools. At the end of this year, there will also be another report on the support for democratic values among young people. In this report, we will pay special attention to the development of the students' values and attitudes over time.

This means that there is still something to look forward to. We remain hopeful and hope for better times when we can greet ‘our’ students in the classroom again!