Questionnaire
Administration Handbook (QAH)Questionnaire
Administration Handbook (QAH)YOUTH and HISTORY
The Comparative European Project
on Historical Consciousness
among teenagers
by
Hamburg, August 1994
1 General Information to this study
2 Instructions for the realization of the test
3 Tasks of the Questioning Administrator
3.1 Thorough reading the questionnaires
3.2 Test material
> 3.3 Numbering of the students' questionnaires
3.4 Numbering of the teachers' accompanying questionnaires
3.5 Making contact with the school administration
and the teacher
6 Handing in the test material to the National Coordinator
7 Contact with the National Coordinator
Annex 1: Letter to the Parents
Annex 2: School-and-Class-Form (left half)
Annex 3: Questioning Record (Right half of School-and-Class-Form)
Annex 4: Question-Types (Cut-out-Examples)
9 Particulars for the questioning in your country
International
Project Coordinator
Magne Angvik
Bergen
Bergen Lærerhøgskole
(Bergen College of Education)
Landåssvingen 15
Landås
N-5030 Bergen
This manual (QAH) is addressing Questioning Administrators, i.e. all assistants of the research project YOUTH and HISTORY performing the questioning in the classes.
In this manual you will find information about the purpose of this project, about the material, your tasks and your concrete ways of action when contacting the school and about your behavior in the class rooms.
This test will be carried through in many European countries having a lot of different school systems, legal regulations and schooling traditions. Therefore it is most important that the situations of questioning are fitting to fixed standards, to allow a comparison of the test results of the different countries.
Please bear in mind that the data have to be ready for a computer, i.e. all the data will have to be standardized. At some places - especially at the DATES - we have tried to achieve a homogeneous solution which may differ from the conventions in your country. Kindly pay attention to this.
We ask you to study and follow this QAH's manual right away. Even if it seems very tedious to you, you will find, that a large amount of the contained information only needs to be taken notice of. Other parts, however do function as a check-list, so you should have it ready when doing the testing.
If there are unclear points don't hesitate to contact your National Coordinator or -if necessary by phone- the International Coordinator in Norway. You will find my address and telephone number on the front page of this manual.
There might be one or two additional papers linked to this manual containing special regulations adhering only to your country or even region. Those papers do modify specifications laid out in this manual and therefore "overrule" them. The purpose is to take care of country-specific legal and/or governmental stipulations or specific problems of organization so that the main purpose, namely the standardization of the questioning will be ensured.
IF you find such additional papers in this QAH, please
If you have any questions or doubts adhering to those modifications of procedure, please contact me as your National Coordinator.
Many thanks!
On behalf of the project management
| Name of NC
National Coordinator for |
Magne Angvik | |
| International Coordinator |
[This chapter is a short version of the Project Description by Magne Angvik, which has been sent to all national coordinators.]
The last five years, scholars from Hamburg University, Germany, and Bergen College of Education, Norway, have done research on the historical consciousness among adolescents in the two countries. Based on this work, an extensive project for comparative studies on a larger scale in a number of European countries was initiated in 1991.
A pilot study was carried out in 1992, including 900 students in nine European countries. The results were so encouraging that the planning of a full scale investigation started immediately.
The aim of this extended project is to investigate the connection between adolescents' interpretation of the past, perception of the present and expectations for the future. In today`s Europe with fast and deep-rooted changes, it is of vital importance to unveil young people's attitudes to history-related political subjects and expressions, such as identity, nationalism, democracy and immigration. An insight into the correlation between cultural/national dependence, historical consciousness and the attitudes to important current political issues would be of benefit to decisionmakers on many levels, and of importance for decision-making on the content of and approach to future education in Europe.
The contents of the concept "historical consciousness" are examined in different
ways (questions, general and specific statements, Likert-scale, visuals and texts used as a basis for assessment, etc.) to make sure that all aspects of the concept are covered. This will also strengthen the reliability and form a good basis for multivariate methods of analysis with regard to index- and factor constructions.
A project group of scholars from five European regions has been formed to carry out this European comparative study, headed by Magne Angvik, Bergen, Bodo v. Borries, Hamburg, and Laszlo Kéri, Budapest.
Some of the main questions for this research are:
Of course, the project group does not intend any political action or support, but - in view of the significance of the problems - it wants to shine some kind of "scientific light" into the astonishing darkness in the field of historical consciousness. In terms of values, some presumptions cannot be avoided, our option is based on human- and civic rights, which need constant assertion. This includes on the one hand a commitment to tolerance and non-violence, and on the other a right to cultural diversity and authenticity.
The project group has so far been greeted everywhere with spontaneous approval of its plan. Its basic importance was always emphasized because of the fast and deep changes in the world around us (social and political upheaval, breakup and formation of nations in Eastern Europe, integration in Western Europe, aggravation of the North-South conflict, population explosion and ecological crisis and the trend for multicultural societies and intercultural conflicts). An experts' conference of the European Council in Bruges (December 1991) requested empirical culture comparative studies of the historical consciousness of adolescents.
All respective authorities and institutions in the participating countries have approved this project. Some (federal) states have made special conditions for the approval of this test mentioned separately in this manual (ch. 9). These conditions will modify or complete the procedure explained in this manual. They must be observed in any case.
The test material includes the following:
The schools resp. the classes to be inquired already have been determined by random selection in summer/early autumn 1994.
The National Coordinator has already got the permission for the study from the authorities and contacted the respective headmasters/headmistresses by letter or by phone. The menstioned first letter reads as follows:
Two or three weeks after dispatch of the first letter the National Coordinator has contacted the headmaster/headmistress by phone to clear further particulars and to determine the classes to be inquired. These, too, have been selected by random.
By our second letter to the school administration we have sent the copy of the written approval of the respective authorities. In some countries we have enclosed "accompanying letters to the parents", too (cf. Annex 1), asking the headmaster/headmistress to hand these letters to the teacher of history to give it to the students, resp. their parents.
This "letter to the parents" has to be signed by a parent and to be recollected by the teacher. In case more than one third of parents has explicitly refused, another class was chosen. We also already informed the headmaster/headmistress that a Questioning Administrator is going to contact him/her to arrange a date for the realization of the inquiry.
All of this has already been done. You only have to know about it, so you can answer any occurring question!
Additionally, the National Coordinator will have invested you with a short letter of approbation, identifying you as a cooperator of this officially approved study and containing a copy of the approval of the authorities, if necessary. You should have this letter with you whenever you visit a class, in case anyone should actually doubt your permission to do the testing.
As an assistant of this project you should identify yourself with this study in order to be able to act with self-confidence as a representative of the research group. Moreover you should be very familiar with the questionnaire to be able to answer directly to the questions of the students. So first of all you should become familiar with the questionnaire and the strategy of the test in order to give to the students a feeling of assurance about the test.
The Questioning Administrator should check each class set for its completeness (see the list).
On the beginning of each questionnaire there are two blocs for registration of the code numbers. You will find them on top of the page, next to one another:
Do not mark this area!
| Country | Testadm. | |||||||||
| Stratum | Date of test | |||||||||
| School | PC-operator | |||||||||
| Class | ||||||||||
| Student |
This section will tell you about how to fill out the registration-blocs. There is an example on page 8.
The left bloc is used to give each questionnaire its own identification number, so that we can afterwards tell, which questionnaires belong to the same school (not to which!), to the same class and to ensure that no questionnaire is lost or being forgotten. This identification is very important for analysis, especially of testing which effects are individual and which belong to groups of pupils.
There will be no possibility of re-identification of a pupil, class or even school afterwards. After the testing is done and the data are on their way to the project centres, the identification numbers will only link the students' questionnaires to that of their teacher and link together all questionnaires out of a school and from a country, but there will be no possibility to trace back, which school it was. The only re-identifiable code will be that of the country.
1st line: Country |
|||||
| 01 = Croatia | 11 = Lithuania | 21 = | |||
| 02 = Denmark | 12 = Norway | 22 = | |||
| 03 = Finland | 13 = Poland | 23 = | |||
| 04 = France | 14 = Slovenia | 24 = | |||
| 05 = Germany | 15 = Sweden | 25 = | |||
| 06 = Great Britain | 16 = Russia | 26 = | |||
| 07 = Greece | 17 =The Czech Republic | 27 = | |||
| 08 = Hungary | 18 =Ucraine | 28 = | |||
| 09 = Iceland | 19 =Turkey | 29 = | |||
| 10 = Italy | 20 =Austria | 30 = | |||
For reasons of sampling and control of representativity, the schools of your country may have been grouped into strata. Each stratum gets a number. The code (number) will be given by your NC together with the school-code. Be aware that the school-numbers are identifying the schools not only inside the strata but over the whole country. There may NOT be two schools with the school-code (line 3) "03" even if they are in different strata.
Your National Coordinator will tell you the two-figure code number of the respective school as well as the address and the particular class. You have to enter this two-figure code number in the third line (e.g. 01, 28, 34).
The random sample might select a school several times. To enable us to distinguish the classes you have to note in the 4th line whether one or several classes are to be inquired in the school. In case of several classes please record at what place the respective class is going to be inquired.
In the more often case that there is only one class in the school to be testet, the code will be 01, too.
01 = 1st (or only) inquired class in a school
02 = 2nd inquired class in a school
03 = 3rd inquired class in a school
You have to number the questionnaires consecutively before distributing them to the pupils. In that way the first pupil in the class will get the code number 01, the second pupil the code number 02, and so on.
Each student's questionnaire gets a number unmistakably identifible inside that class. This number too does only adhere to the questionnaires, not to the pupils as persons. There will be no list of which pupil got which number and therefore there will be no reidentification possible of which pupil filled out a certain questionnaire. This is very important and we will use a special procedure to ensure this (see below ch. 4.3)
Enter this number into the 5th line.
The right bloc is used for matters of organization of the study. It identifies, who acted as Questioning Administrator for a specific group of questionnaires and who coded the data, so the data analysts can contact the Questioning Administrator and/or the PC-Operator for specific questions arising with a questionnaire or a group. Moreover it it the only place to note the exact date of test, which may be of importance for the data analysis and interpretation (e.g. whether a special class was tested before or after some important political event which might influence the thinking of the pupils). Since we do not know the exact date beforehand, you do have to enter it. Please do so only on the day of the test, immediately before testing. That way there will be no need of changing anything if a date had to be cancelled or delayed.
Please observe the specification about the FORMAT of the date below!
The National Coordinator will tell you your personal Questioning Administrator's code number. It has to be entered in this line in each questionnaire.
Please enter the date of the test here, using the following format (order):
DAY (2 digits), MONTH (2 digits), YEAR (2 digits).
As the coding has to be standardized, this order has to be observed in all the participating countries even if they have another order of the date.
The National Coordinator will also give a code number to the person recording the data. This code number should be entered here, but only at the moment od Data Entry. So in the course of the test it has to be left blank.
Questioning Administrators not being charged with the data record should omit the last line altogether. This line is meant for the code number of the person actually recording the data of the questionnaires. He/she has to insert his/her number in the course of Data Entry.
Suppose that your are Questioning Administrator No. 08 in Italy and are about to question a class in a school which got the school-number 59. The school belongs in stratum 02. More than one class were selected in that school, the first one of which is going to be questioned now. The coding of the left bloc will then look as follows:
| Country | 1 | 0 | ||
| stratum | 0 | 2 | ||
| School | 5 | 9 | ||
| Class | 0 | 1 | ||
| Student | 0 | 1 | (The first pupil to receive the questionnaire will get the number 01; the second pupil 02 etc. Supposing there are 21 pupils in a class, the 21st student will get a questionnaire with the code number 21.) | |
The right bloc might look as follows:
| Testadm. | 0 | 8 | The Test administrator having gotten the number 8 from the National Coordinator | |||||
| Date of test | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 4 | (the questioning being done on the 10.12.94) | |
| PC-Operator | (the PC-Operator (data registrar) will fill out this field) |
The registration bloc of the teachers' accompanying questionnaire looks the same as the students' questionnaires. Only the field STUDENT is replaced by TEACHER.
The numbering of the teachers' accompanying questionnaires has to be done in the same way as that of the students' questionnaires.
Whereas in the 5th line of the left bloc of the students' questionnaires the students' code number has to be entered, the number "00" has to be written in the teachers' accompanying questionnaires. In other words: students will be identified by code numbers beginning with 01, teachers by the code number 00.
Take care that the numbers in the lines 1 to 4 in both the left and the right bloc are identical with those of the students' questionnaires of the respective class.
Your National Coordinator will give you for each class a two-part form. This form shows the following at the left half.
Moreover, special wishes of the school administration are mentioned on this page such as for instance: "The test can be done only from 20th November onward as the class is making a journey."
Now you will have to do the following:
If there are questions of the headmaster about the parents' letters, please answer them, using the following information (cf. ch. 2.1.3):
In total you will need two consecutive lessons for the questioning.
Please make sure that you bring the following material with you:
The Questioning Administrator should be at school abt. 20 minutes before the beginning of the test to be able to contact the school administration resp. the teacher beforehand.
Please note how many pupils are present and write this number at the right part of the form (Questioning record). Possibly some of the pupils will not participate in the test, their parents, for instance, explicitly having refused their approval (cf. ch. 4.2). Therefore you also have to write down the number of students actually participating in the test.
The teacher should complete the teachers' accompanying questionnaire right in the first lesson as she/he may not be present during the second lesson.
As soon as you have contaced the teacher and filled out the School-and-class-form, let the teacher cut off the lower part of it containing her/his name (at the line). You don't need his/her name anymore and we are not supposed to know it.
Ask the teacher to prepare a task for those pupils whose parents do explicitly not allow her/him to participate in the test, having indicated this in the return-part of the parents' letter we sent them. If such a letter, signed by a parent, has not been presented before the test, the pupil will still take part in the questioning.
You will have to explain the test to the class. The rough meaning might be as follows:
"Your class has been chosen to particpate in a great European study. These days more than 20.000 pupils in Denmark, Germany, England, Finland, France, Island, Italy, Kroatia, Lithunia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraina, Hungary .... are completing this questionnaire. By this project we want to examine which are the concepts and interests of young people in Europe in connection with history.
Each one of you will get a questionnaire. Please complete it. We are not at all interested in your names. In fact, we don't want to know them. That means nobody will know your personal results.
Therefore you need not be worried about bad results. Almost no knowledge is necessary for our questions. We are only interested in your personal opinion and considerations."
Before starting the test in the class, you will have to briefly explain a few main rules about filling out the questionnaire to the class. There are three main types of questions which require different operations for an answer. The types of questions can readily be recognised by their layout. The main purpose of the explanation is to tell the pupils about these three types and their layout.
Use the wording given in the following table:.
"Now I have to explain a few things about the questions you are going to answer.
There are three main types of questions. You can tell them by their layout, which I have sketched here on the blackboard/overhead."
| what you say | what you do | |
| "In most of the questions you will find five boxes in a row in each line. | show type 1 | |
| For these questions, the answer is to be given by marking one box in each row with a cross. | check several boxes, one in each row | |
| If you want to change an answer, just make a circle around the wrong one and check the right box with a cross. | encircle a box, check another one | |
| Do not mark two or more boxes in a row and do not skip any row! | ||
| In some questions there is only one box at the end of each row | show type 2 | |
| Here you do only have to mark one box for all rows, because every row represents one possibility of which only one may be answered. | check a box | |
| Here, too, wrong crosses are to be encircled. | encircle the box, check another one | |
| In two questions there are five rows with one box in front of each | show type 3a | |
| Here you mustn't enter crosses, but numbers from 1 to 5.
They constitute an order, so you have to use each number exactly once and no box may be left blank. |
write numbers from 1 to five into the boxes not in any order | |
| Two more questions have boxes below pictures | show type 4 | |
| Here, too, you have to enter numbers from one to five to give the pictures the right order." | write numbers | |
| take away the examples/wipe the blackboard | ||
You should do the explanation before distributing the questionnaires, so that eager pupils do not already begin answering. On the other hand, the pupils should get a visual idea of the layout of the three types while you explain them.
In order to ensure this you can either
Take away the examples before distributing the questionnaires.
Do NOT draw them too elaborate, just the main layout.
Wipe the blackboard before distribution.
While explaining, you should perform an example answering of a fictitcious question on the visualized layout. On the following pages you will find information for yourself as well as filled out examples.
In the following you will find some information for you concerning the types of question. It is rather elaborate. Don't tell it to the class word by word, but use our examples in Box 5. Explain the test briefly and in a concentrated way. In the course of the test students will ask questions anyway, in spite of your explanations.
The first type of questions (Graph 2) has to be answered by filling in a cross.
Crossing out:
If a pupil has made a mistake, he/she should make a circle around the erroneous cross and write a new one.
This rule is most important! Please emphasize that a cross is a valid sign and that encircling a cross means cancelling it.
The second type of questions (Mulitple Choice; see Graph 3), which can be recognized by having only one box at the END of each line, has also to be answered by filling in a cross, in only one of the boxes.
Canceling Crosses:
Here, too, "wiping out" is to be done by encircling the wrong answer and placing the correct cross.
The third type of questions has to be answered by a RANGE of NUMBERS, i.e. the numbers 1 to 5. Each number can be used only once.
The pupils can tell this type of question by its arrangement, too. There are big brackets either at the BEGINNING of a line (see Graph 4) or scattered over the page (see Graph 5).
Here, too, pupils have to encircle a number if they have been mistaken. The correct number should then be written next to the bracket.
In question No. 9 pupils should enter their age.
PLEASE ALSO OBSERVE THE PARTICULARS OF YOUR COUNTRY!!
Please wipe out the blackboard or remove the overhead-projection/the examples when the pupils are beginning
Now talk to the pupils as follows:
"Every one of you will now get a questionnaire. They are already numbered, but don't fear that we could re-identify, which was yours, afterwards. To ensure this, some of you will actually distribute the questionnaires."
"So, each of you will now get a questionnaire. Please complete it from beginning to end. Don't try to read the whole questionnaire first, but start answering it right away. You will have two lessons (90 minutes). Don't be discouraged if you don't understand a question at once. Try to answer the difficult questions too. Only if a question is entirely unknown to you, you may strike it out and skip it. Please avoid mere guessing.
Please go through the questions thoroughly and completely without copying from your neighbour. The answer to most of the questions will be neither right nor wrong. Therefore it is meaningless to copy from someone else. On the contrary, this will be bad for this project. We are only interested in your opinion. All the classes enjoyed this test until now.
Please don't write your names on the questionnaires!
Of course you may ask me if something is not clear to you."
After that you should ask the pupils in the first row/table to distribute the questionnaire not observing any order. This way we ensure anonymity (see above ch. 3.3).
Then ask, if everyone has got a questionnaire.
Each student will get a questionnaire. Please take care that you don't distribute more questionnaires than there are pupils in the class.
At last give the teachers' accompanying questionnaire to the teacher.
Kindly note the time and how many questionnaires you have distributed in the Questioning Record on the right part of the School-and-Class-Form
It is most important to enable an undisturbed completion of the test. By all means you should use your influence to bring this about.
A relaxed atmosphere is necessary. Little disturbances won't do any harm. It is better not to put too much pressure on pupils as this may easily lead to "unwanted" or "provoking" reactions. Motivating the pupils and creating a relaxed atmosphere is far more important than to cling to a perfect test situation in the classes. Your attitude should be friendly, encouraging and neutral and in view of the different test situations such as type of school, and so on, it is necessary that you are able to react flexibly on students' needs.
The following examples may help you to go on. Of course it is impossible to anticipate all possible situations. But if you attentively read the following chapters, you may easily understand how to react on situations.
Of course pupils, coming too late, will get a questionnaire too. Please write the time on the questionnaire you are giving to the pupil and change the number of distributed questionnaires accordingly.
Please note beginning-time and number of this questionnaire on the right part of the form for the school (remarks). A pupil coming too late has to make this test as well!
If a pupil realizes that her/his questionnaire is faulty (double or missing pages) kindly give her/him a spare one (and complete the front page accordingly -i.e. with the identical pupil's number-). Attach it to the first -faulty- questionnaire and let the pupil go on working. It is not necessary that the pupil repeats the questions she/he already answered. You should write on top of both questionnaires by the red pen that another one is attached.
Pupils are allowed to ask questions to the Questioning Administrator. However, when replying, other pupils should not be disturbed.
As a rule, a pupil will lift her/his hand more or less vividly if she/he wants to ask a question. In that case you quietly go to her/his place and ask her/him for her/his wish in a low voice.
Only some few timid pupils will really want your help - the majority of the class will work quietly and concentratedly. For this minority some words for encouragement, appeasement and care will do (sometimes in the disguise of "answers" to pretended "questions").
| In this table we will give some pre-formulated paraphases
for words and concepts; they are ordered alphabetically; the first
column shows where the word appears in the q.
- Please do only explain in the given way! - If a word is marked as not to explain don't even explain it in another context! |
||
| Question | word, concept | answer/explanation of Questioning Administrator |
| 47d | acclaim | explicit consent to an already made decision or selection |
| 1g | accumulation |
no explanation! [the kowledge of the word signals knowledge of the concept] |
| 6d | contemporary | of the time mentioned, not of today |
| 20e | decolonization | countries becoming independent |
| 22g; 35-37e; 46b; 47; etc. | democracy |
no explanation! [is crucial for No. 47!] |
| 35-37 | ethnic groups | groups of people defined by having the same ancestors and in this differring from other groups |
| 46 | European integration | advancing unification of the European states |
| 29 a | genocide | killing of a whole people/ethnic group or of a great part of it |
| 44, 48f | immigrant | a person coming from another country to live and work here |
| 39f | innovation | something totally new |
| 48c | investments | money (capital) spent by people in order to found a firm or to buy machines with which to produce things and in turn to earn more money |
| 24-25n | mass migration | lots of people and whole peoples giving up their homes and moving to other places over long distances |
| 45, 22f | nation(s) |
no explanation! [the kowledge of the word signals knowledge of the concept] |
| 24-25k | population explosion | strong and fast growth of the number of people in an area by increase of the number of births |
| 24-25b | social movements | people uniting in order to change the society |
| 29h | totalitarian power | power of a state dominating every aspect of the life of its inhabitants |
| 6g | traditions | inheritated values and rules, customs, wont |
| 30c | Warsaw Treaty | the former military alliance of East Europe, led by the Soviet Union |
The problem of ommittance of questions or even of complete question blocs is particularly delicate. On the other hand, pupils should not merely guess or make a cross by chance. In such cases you should tell them: "Try to answer it!", "If you really dont know the answer you'd better let it, don't guess!".
You have told the pupils that knowledge and good results are not important. But some pupils will still make contact with others and perhaps copy from others. If you watch this several times, you should once again point out that, in fact, we are only interested in their personal opinion and that they can write down their private judgements without any risk, as the questionning is anonymous.
Actually copying from others has to be avoided as far as possible. It may happen that pupils will contact others, that they will whisper and look around. They may want to reassure each other by that: "How far are you?", "Don't you think that's funny?" Most possibly they don't really want to cheat - especially if you have made it very clear before, that there is no point to do so.
It is certainly better not to insist on absolute silence but to allow such kind of communication to a certain extend to keep the class in a good mood. Nowadays in some countries pupils are used to a certain noise level in the classes and may find a frosty silence most uncomfortalbe and unnatural. It would do more harm than good for the concentration.
If you observe that pupils are really copying, or if it becomes too noisy, you may gently urge them and explain once again the purpose of this study. Don't intimidate them and don't moralize. A sense of humor is much better than threatening!
It rarely happens that pupils are passive ("I am fed up with it", "it's boring", "shit!"), that they want to protest or provoke ("What's the good of it?", "I don't want to be sounded out!" and so on). However such attitude cannot be excluded.
Sometimes it happens that wide parts of the questionnaire remain blank or are hurriedly completed. Pupils don't read it or merely run over it. If you watch such things, encourage the pupil to write her/his real opinion. In very bad cases you should make a note on the front page when gathering the questionnaires ("flightiness" et al).
If the pupils wish to have a break you should allow that. Pupils may eat at their place any time. Try to avoid several pupils leaving the class at the same time. But you cannot really prevent them from leaving the class.
Some pupils have great difficulties to let others work, while they themselves have finished. If a student wants to return her/his questionnaire earlier, you may ask her/him to read it through once again to make sure not to have ommitted a question. Don't give her/him the impression that this might be a chance to revise it. She/He should not reconsider all the questions once again and/or copy answers on questions for knowledge. Do not "help" her/him with questions.
When a pupil has finished, you take her/his sealed (see below ch. 5.2.1) questionnaire and let her/him leave the class. You should clear beforehand with the teacher if this is possible. Some schools may have problems with the supervising or the neighbouring classes might feel disturbed. In most cases teachers prefer to send the pupils off. However, you should not do that too early. The remaining pupils might loose their motivation, they may hurry and work hastily.
5 Minutes before the end of the test:
If pupils want to return the questionnaire before the end of the lesson, please check if it has too many gaps. Ask her/him in that case to answer these questions, too, but not to guess. If she/he doesn't want to continue to work, or if she/he really has finished, take back the questionnaire and check if the the student's number has been entered in the field "student" at the front page. Take care that the pupil has entered their personal data (in the students' questionnaire p. 4 and 5).
Please note in the Questioning Record which pupils (student's number) have returned the questionnaire much earlier. Also note which ones have not yet finished it at the end.
At the end of the lesson (double lesson) recollect all the remaining questionnaires.
We have no objections if one wants to continue during the following break as we prefer the questionnaires to be as complete as possible rather than to keep to an exact timing.
At the beginning of the lesson you have given the questionnaire to the teacher and asked her/him to complete it by return in case she/he won't be in the class during the second lesson. When the teacher has completed her/his questionnaire you take it back. Don't let the teacher watch pupils while completing their questionnaires. This would be a breach of anonymity!
This way we most overtly fulfill data security requirements.
Put the teachers' accompanying questionnaire inversely on top of the others. And on top of all that put the form (School-and-Class-Form, without the lower part) signed by you and bind it all together to a firm packet.
This packet will have to be handed in (see below ch. 6).
If you yourself are charged with the registration of the data, please take care, that the set of a class remains together.
If you have the chance to talk with the class after the two lessons and the break - perhaps in a free period - or the class even expresses this wish, please accept (if your time allows it). Some of the pupils may critisize the questionnaire in such discussions. We should appreciate if you would note such things and report it to us.
You may hand the address of the National Coordinator and/or the International Coordinator to the teacher or the class' spokesman, in case they want to write a letter with comments on the testing (if they intend to write directly to Norway, ask them to do so in English or German, please).
At such occasions you or the pupils may want to have a glance at the questionnaires. BY NO MEANS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO THAT! (PRIVACY OF THE DATA! ANONYMITY!).
Also, do NOT leave any questionnaire in the class/school, not even a blank one!
Classes, Teachers, Headmasters may ask the National Coordinator for copies of the questionnaires (giving their address again), but only after all data has been collected!
All test material (questionnaires, Questioning Records) as well as the Diskettes (if you have also entered the data) have to be sent to your National Coordinator.
IMPORTANT: Please take care that everything goes smoothly. If you have any problems don't hesitate to contact your National Coordinator by phone or mail:
The National Coordinator will directly call you back to save your telephone expenses or will afterwards re-pay your mail-expenses.
YOUTH and HISTORY
The Comparative European Project on
Historical Consciousness among Teenagers.
Postal Adress of the National Coordinator
1994
Dear Parents,
This autumn, the class of your daughter/son will participate
in a great European study on historical consciousness among teenagers.
In more than 15 European countries pupils will be asked to complete a questionnaire
during the history lesson.
[Institution which finances].. is financing this study and [Name of authority
which has to approve]... are explicitly supporting this project.
By this study we don't want to test your child's knowledge
of history but rather want to know children's own opinion, interests, understanding
and feelings related to history. There will be no preparation necessary.
This inquiry will allow - among others - to improve the history books and
history lessons. We are sure that all participants will have fun in the
test, and that it will be a welcome change, giving new impulses. The test
has been approved of and recommended by the authorities. The school will
be informed of the results afterwards.
Of course all measures for the protection of the privacy of personal data will be observed. No names will be given and the teachers will not be informed about the results of the class or individual pupils. For further questions please contact the headmaster/headmistress or directly contact us.
We hope that you will agree to daughter's/son's participation in this important study.
Yours sincerely
(Name of National Coordinator)
I agree to the participation of my daughter/my son
in the project
I don't agree to the participation of my daughter/my
son
in the project.
--------------------------------------
Signature of a parent
School-and-Class-Form
| Country | Testadm. | |||||||||
| stratum | Date of test | |||||||||
| School | PC-operator | |||||||||
| Class | ||||||||||
| Student |
Name of School:
Address:
Name of headmaster/head mistress:
Phone:
Code Number of
the test class:
Size of the class:
How many classes of
the 9th grade:
Total of pupils at
school:
Remarks of school administration:
Date of test:
This section should be cut off by the respective teacher!
! !
Questioning Record
Total of present pupils:
Total of pupils participating in the questioning:
Total of distributed questionnaires:
Numbers of spoilt questionnaires:
Beginning (time):
End (time):
Remarks:
Signature of the Questioning Administrator:
!This section should be cut off by the respective teacher!!
not reproduced in HTML-Version
9 Particulars for the questioning in your country
