Children between the age of 5 and 11 : competent respondents in interviews?

Children are increasingly seen as competent informants when their activities, views and needs are concerned. But methods used in social science are typically developed with adults in mind. Since the abilities of children differ from those of adults we cannot use the same methods, at least not unadjusted. Possible adjustments of research instruments are problematic because we still lack competence on cognitive, interactive and verbal capacities of children in interview situations. Surveys in particular require this kind of previous knowledge so that valid data can be measured. On the basis of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face and on the telephone I tried to find out more about the abilities of children aged 5 to 11 in the specific setting of an interview. All together 114 interviews with 57 children were carried out. Every child was interviewed twice, once face-to-face and the other time via telephone. Of special interest is the questions-answer-process and the capacities of children that influence this process. On the one hand we have the stimulus and on the other hand the response of the child. By means of this information I draw conclusions on the adequacy of responses regarding the stimulus as well as the abilities that affect the answer given. On the first level we have to inquire: on the potential incongruity between questions and answers. Secondly, what might be the cause of such a dissimilarity? And last but not least, what could be done about it? Background variables are: the mode used, age and sex of the participants