Чекори за подготовка на истражувачкиот циклус 2014-2015 / To get the idea: preparatory steps for the research cycle 2014-2015

Hi! We would like to present you the milestones during the preparatory field work part of the study. The preparation for the field research consisted of:

•Selection of items for the Macedonian version of the questionnaire (selected from the pool of items provided from the HBSC network). Translation in Macedonian and Albanian, their back-translation in English, corrections and creation of the final version of the questionnaires in Macedonian and Albanian

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• Piloting of the new questionnaires, conducted in 6 schools. Piloting was carried out in 6 schools, three in Macedonian, and three in Albanian language of instruction, with 11 y. old pupils (from rural and urban areas), as well as with 15 y. old (urban schools). The result of the piloting was used to measure the timing, the understanding, and the relevance of the items for the Macedonian children, after which the final version of the Macedonian questionnaire, was corrected, edited and accepted, for three ages (11y., 13y., 15y).

• Sample construction: The sample encompassed 5290 students aged 11, 13 and 15 (up to 1800 students per each age group), in two languages of instruction – Macedonian and Albanian, from 139 schools, throughout the country. A two stage random sampling frame was used, out of a list of all schools (800 in elementary education and 110 in secondary education) in Macedonia. A random sample of schools was selected proportionally within two stratified sub-samples, according to the ratio of pupils enrolled in the school year 2013/2014, in two main languages of instruction (Macedonian and Albanian). The sample construction paid attention to the Roma pupils, as well as of Turkish ethnic origin children; they were also included in a certain proportion.

The selection criteria enabled representation of children from both urban and rural communities The selection of the classes took into consideration the optimal balance in terms of the interviewees’ gender.

• Contacts with the selected schools, for the purpose of nomination of the responsible person for the study (from each school), as well as for the trainings to be carried out in the period of 22. 04-09. 05, was initiated by the MoES (Ministry of Education and Science) letter in support for the survey.

• A team of local and experienced school members was created to support the collection of data in the field, to supervise the survey, and collect the questionnaires from the students, after their completion.