If you are writing an article or book requiring responses to questions you are posing as research for your work, the following experience I had may be useful.
The Process:
In previous posts I indicated a need for responses to surveys for teens on the subjects of gun violence, social media and the pandemic. There was a letter to parents/guardians explaining the project, which was part of a book I am writing for adults on assisting adolescents to handle anger in positive ways. The surveys were available through the use of a QR Code(an expedient and teen-friendly method). Once the adults had gone through this process, and approved of the idea, (guardian approval is necessary to do anything with teens under 18 years old), they would let youngsters access and complete these surveys. This letter and that to 18 &19 year old teens was published on this Facebook page, the Writers R Us facebook page, another facebook page I have, in a newspaper ad, and in facebook advertisements.
Results:
I did get surveys from classes and teachers in a high school where a colleague had been on staff , and with a university faculty member who coordinated freshmen classesIn spite of all my other attempts to solicit teen responses to my questions, there were no others.
Challenges you may face:
1. Distrust.
2. Unwillingness to perform the task. Some people are just too busy or they just don’t want to be bothered.
3. Too many steps in the process.
(With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, come these possibilities
a) Having guardians go through the process and then having them approach their teens to complete it .
b) Communicating the idea to an adolescent.
c) Youngsters completing the surveys, doing the work.
Cautions
1. Solicit information in person from group(s) you can readily access.
2. Make the process simple and straightforward, not requiring lengthly answers, fairly short in length.
3. If possible, try not to have population under 18.
If you have any additional ideas on surveys feel free to provide your comments after this post or on your own page