The National Young Driver Survey

The goal of the National Young Driver Survey was to learn more about teens’ views on what is important to keep them safe in cars. It is part of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm’s Young Driver Research Initiative, created to develop effective interventions that can be implemented nationally t help save young lives.

Some initial results of the Survey appear in “Driving: Through the Eyes of Teens” . These results and further analysis of survey data will inform the direction of future research and intervention development.

Survey Creation

In the fall of 2005, 45 focus groups involving nearly 300 students were conducted among diverse populations across the country. The purpose of the focus groups was to hear teens’ thoughts about the factors that make a difference in whether teens are safe in cars, and to ask them to prioritize the issues they raised. This unique student viewpoint formed the core of questions in the survey.

Simultaneously, additional survey content was created based on an extensive literature review and input from an international panel of experts. Whenever possible, topics based on expert recommendations or the literature review were included as previously validated survey items. Items from the students, on the other hand, were included in their own words to ensure that their true meaning was preserved. The survey was designed as a paper-and-pencil questionnaire to be completed in less than one class period by students with an eighth-grade reading level, and responses were recorded on an optically scannable answer sheet. The survey was pilot-tested in diverse schools in Illinois and Pennsylvania prior to the national launch.

Study Sample

Students in public schools in grades nine through 11 were asked to participate in the survey. These grades were selected to include students who had reached the age by which many students begin to drive, as well as those students approaching that age. A nationally representative two-stage sample of schools and students was drawn. At the first stage, all public schools in the country were stratified into urban and rural categories. A stratified random sample of 120 schools was selected. Of these schools, 68 participated.

The second stage of sampling consisted of randomly choosing one ninth-grade class, two 10th-grade classes and one 11th-grade class within participating schools. Tenth graders were over-sampled to provide more information about early drivers, as many students either begin their driving experience or substantially increase it in this grade.

A total of 5,665 students participated in the survey, yielding an overall student participation rate of 85 percent. When including the participation rates of both schools and the students, the overall response rate was calculated at 48 percent. When the data are weighted, the sample is representative of all 10.6 million public school students in ninth through 11th grades.Class size averaged 21 students.

Survey Administration

This study would not have been possible without the participation of dozens of schools and the help of their teachers across the country who administered the survey. Standardized survey administration procedures, based on those used for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, were designed to protect student privacy and allow for anonymous participation. These procedures were followed at each school and in each participating classroom. Research indicates that when students know that procedures are in place to protect their privacy and to allow for anonymous participation, data of this nature can be gathered as reliably from adolescents as from adults.

Internal analytical checks demonstrated strong reliability and face validity of the data collected. The survey and all associated procedures received approval from the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of both The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and ORC Macro, the survey research firm that conducted the survey. An IRB is an oversight group that makes sure the rights and welfare of research participants are protected.

Survey Analysis

All survey analyses were conducted at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after survey data were weighted to adjust for the variable probabilities of selection and differential nonresponse, which considered gender, race/ethnicity, and grade. The sampling weights were first computed as the reciprocal of the probability of selection for students. According to design, sampling weights were approximately equal for all students in a grade in a given stratum (rural or urban). All analyses were conducted using SPSS 14.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill.); frequency percentages were rounded to the nearest whole number.

Qualitative Research Sources

The quotations that are highlighted in the survey report were excerpted from in-depth interviews conducted with more than 40 teens in seven states and focus groups conducted with nearly 450 teens in 17 states between September 2005 and May 2006.

 

 

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