Blyth Valley Young Peoples Survey 2004
Synopsis:
Blyth Valley Local Strategic Partnership commissioned Information by
Design (IbyD) to conduct a wide-ranging consultation with young people
in the Blyth Valley area. The context to the research was that of the
People’s Plan, which identified that “Young People need to feel valued
within their communities” ((Blyth Valley Local Strategic Partnership,
The People’s Plan, p18, 2003).
In addition, during the Community Consultation 2003-4, which had
focussed on the views of the adult population, it had been identified
that adults’ perceptions of young people tended to focus on negative
aspects of young people – in particular or the different types of
‘anti-social behaviour’ which caused ‘problems’ for adults, such as
gangs of youths hanging around on street corners, with the perception
that young people were engaged in taking drugs, smoking, and drinking.
“Young People tend to be regarded as a group that all think and act
in the same manner…..We all recognise that not every young person is
like this….We need to break the cycle….Young people need to feel valued
within their communities” (Blyth Valley Local Strategic Partnership, The
People’s Plan, p18, 2003)
It was felt that the views of young people needed to be obtained – in
particular to discover their views about their communities, lifestyle,
behaviour, crime, their area, and their views about the organizations
who act for young people. The intention here was to ‘bring together’ the
views of adults with those of young people, to try to find common ground
for developing ways forward.
The research objectives were as follows;
- To collect measures of customer satisfaction, participation and
attitudes towards various services young people may use and
experience
- To understand community cohesion across and within generations,
including perceptions between young people and adults and also
authority
- To determine the best methods for the involvement in youth
governance
- To obtain measures of lifestyle behaviour amongst young people
in the area.
The research comprised of two main phases:
- Focus groups with young people
- A large scale quantitative survey with young people living in
the Borough
The focus groups were used to ascertain the views of young people on
a range of issues surrounding their attitudes, lifestyle, youth
governance and the local area, and enabled the steering group to
determine the content for the main questionnaire.
A Steering Group was appointed to oversee the work on the
consultation, comprising of representatives from the organizations
involved in the Local Strategic Partnership. In addition, comments were
sought from a number of other groups and individuals during the
development of the questionnaire, in order to ensure that all possible
views were taken into account.
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For further information please see:
www.ibyd.co.uk |
