DOI: 10.5279/dk-sa-dda-196
title: Børns fritidsvaner og kulturelle interesser, 1978
title: Children: Spare Time and Cultural Activities, 1978

description: Undersøgelsen blev iværksat og finansieret af Arbejdsgruppen om Børn og Kultur, nedsat af Ministeriet for Kulturelle Anliggender, og det tidligere Børnefilmudvalg under Det danske Filminstitut. De første skridt til dette samarbejde blev taget i juni 1977, og dataindsamlingen til undersøgelsen kunne påbegyndes i november 1977 og afsluttes i juni 1978.
        
        Formålet med undersøgelsen har været at belyse, hvorledes børn i forskellige egne af landet er stillet med hensyn til fritidsmuligheder, hvordan de anvender de eksisterende muligheder, hvilke aktiviteter de selv er mest interesserede i, samt hvad der er bestemmende for de kommunale myndigheders indsats over for børnene og deres udfoldelsesmuligheder.
        
        Ud over at give en beskrivelse af de faktiske forhold har undersøgelsen haft til formål at påvise hvilke faktorer, der er bestemmende for børns fritidsmuligheder, og hvilke børn, der er i stand til at benytte de eksisterende muligheder.
        
        Undersøgelsen falder i to dele:
      
        1. En landsomfattende repræsentativ spørgeskemaundersøgelse af de
        
        9-12 åriges fritidsanvendelse (det i DDA arkiverede og her
        
        beskrevne materiale).
        
        2. En analyse af fritidsmulighederne i fem udvalgte kommuner (som
        
        omfatter direkte observation, indsamling af statistisk
        
        materiale, kvalitative interviews med voksne og børn samt
        
        analyse af stile skrevet af nogle af de i undersøgelsen
        
        medvirkende børn).
      
        Spørgeskemaundersøgelsen omfatter børn i aldersgruppen 9-12 år, dvs. børn fra 3.-6. skoleklasse, og er afgrænset til at omfatte denne børnegruppes forbrug af fritidstilbud med særlig vægt på de kulturelle aktiviteter som idræt, film, teater, museer, musik, radio, TV og læsning, men også nogle fritidsaktiviteter, som omfattes af et mere udvidet kulturbegreb, indgår i undersøgelsen.
        
        Selv om skolen er en meget vigtigt kulturformidler, har det været nødvendigt, for at begrænse undersøgelsen, at holde skolen udenfor i det omfang, det har været muligt. Ligeledes er forældrenes og familiens påvirkning og holdninger heller ikke direkte med i undersøgelsen.
        
        Børn bliver ofte taget meget lidt alvorligt i den sociologiske forskning, og der bliver sat spørgsmålstegn ved deres pålidelighed som svarpersoner og kvaliteten af de oplysninger, som de kan give. Ved sociologiske undersøgelser af børn og unge kan der være særlige problemer at tage hensyn til. Fra tidligere arbejde med lignende projekter har primærundersøgerne erfaring for, at der er problemer - men på den anden side er de ikke større, end at de fleste kan løses bl.a. ved et grundigt forarbejde med de metoder, der ønskes anvendt.
        
        Der er barrierer, der skal overvindes, fx generationskløften. Hvor godt forstår forskeren og børnene hinanden på en række områder: følelsesmæssigt, holdningsmæssigt og sprogligt? Hvor stor fortrolighed kan der opnås? Er det muligt at vække den nødvendige interesse for projektet hos børnene? Kan forskeren give børnene den nødvendige forståelse af, hvad projektet drejer sig om? Hvor tæt kan man gå på det enkelte barn? Der er etiske hensyn at tage - ikke mindst i interviewsituationen.
        
        Børnegruppen de 9-12 årige består (i 1979) af ca. 333.000 børn. Det blev besluttet at undersøge ca. 1.000 af disse børn. Når man har valgt at beskæftige sig med netop denne aldersgruppe, skyldes det, at den er repræsentativ for en større børnegruppe, fordi der er en større udviklingsmæssig spredning i gruppen end de 4 år, den aldersmæssigt dækker. Det er samtidig en gruppe, der generelt er meget aktiv. De 9-12 årige er endnu ikke præget af puberteten, men på den anden side har de de færdigheder, der skal til for såvel i skriftlig som i mundtlig form at kunne give udtryk for deres adfærd, interesser og holdninger.
        
        I samarbejde med Socialforskningsinstituttet er der foretaget en udvælgelse af 15 kommuner. Disse kommuner er udvalgt efter geografisk spredning, en i hver amtskommune samt en kommune i hovedstaden, og efter urbaniseringsgrad, dvs. antal indbyggere i byområder.
        
        I hver kommune er der dernæst udvalgt et skoledistrikt og en skole. Ved skoleudvælgelsen er der taget hensyn til, at sammensætningen af børneudvalget skulle være så repræsentativt for aldersgruppen som muligt. Det endelige udvalg er ligeligt fordelt på 3., 4., 5. og 6. klassetrin.
        
        Dette udvalg af børn har besvaret et spørgeskema, der dels indeholder spørgsmål om børnenes køn, alder, socialgruppe og bopæl og dels generelle spørgsmål om deres fritidsaktiviteter og interesser. Der er kun få holdningsspørgsmål, fordi de vanskeligt lader sig besvare i spørgeskemaform.
        
        Skemaet er opbygget således, at flest mulige spørgsmål kan besvares ved at sætte kryds. Der er kun få åbne svarmuligheder. Kun i de tilfælde, hvor det på forhånd ikke var muligt at lave lukkede svarkategorier, eller hvor lukkede svar ville give for ringe information, er der åbne svarmuligheder.
        
        Skemaet indeholder en del spørgsmål, hvor børnene skulle angive, hvor ofte de foretager sig en bestemt ting. Det kan for såvel børn som voksne være vanskeligt med nøjagtighed at besvare denne type spørgsmål, fordi det kan være svært at huske, hvor ofte det normalt foregår. Primærundersøgerne har ved udformningen af svarkategorierne til disse spørgsmål tilstræbt at mindske denne fejlkilde mest muligt.
        
        Besvarelsen af spørgeskemaet foregik på skolerne i november 1977. Udfyldelsen foregik i klasselokalerne under ledelse af en af undersøgelsens medarbejdere. Der blev brugt to sammenhængende timer i hver klasse, og klasselæreren var i de allerfleste tilfælde selv til stede og kunne assistere. Alle eleverne i de udvalgte klasser deltog.
        
        Besvarelsen af spørgeskemaerne forløb uden problemer. De allerfleste børn syntes, det var sjovt at være med, og der var ingen, der ikke ville deltage, men derimod et par stykker, der ikke måtte for deres forældre. Med undtagelse af spørgsmålene med åbne svarkategorier, der kunne volde vanskeligheder især for de yngste børn, var børnenes svarevne generelt god, ligesom svarviljen var stor. Selv om skemaet er langt, var der ingen, der opgav undervejs.
        
        Børnenes anonymitet er sikret ved, at de ikke skulle skrive navn på skemaet, og de kan ikke identificeres på anden måde
description: The survey was initiated and financed by Arbejdsgruppen om Børn og Kultur (The Working Group on Children and Culture), which was appointed by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the former Committee on Children's Films under the Danish Film Institute. The first steps towards this collaboration were made in June 1977, and the data collection took place between November 1977 and June 1978.     #  The purpose of the survey was to examine spare time activities of children in various parts of the country, how children utilize the existing possibilities, which activities they are most interested in, and what is decisive of the efforts of the municipalities as regards children and their spare time activities.     #  In addition to giving a description of the actual conditions the purpose of the survey was to point out which factors are decisive for the spare time opportunities of children and which children are able to use the existing possibilities.     #  The survey consists of two parts:     #     #1. A national representative questionnaire survey of the spare     #   time activities of the 9 to 12-year-olds (the material     #   which is filed at the DDA and which is described in this     #   study description).     #2. An analysis of the available spare time activities in five     #   selected municipalities (including direct observation, the     #   collecting of statistical material, qualitative interviews     #   with children and adults, and an analysis of compositions     #   written by some of the children who take part in the survey).     #     #The questionnaire survey comprises children between 9 and 12, i.e. children in the 3rd to the 6th forms, and it deals with this group of children's use of the available spare time activities, with special emphasis on cultural activities such as sports, films, theatre-going, museum visits, music, radio habits, TV habits, and reading habits. Furthermore, a number of spare time activities which form part of an extended concept of culture are included in the survey.     #  Even though primary school is a very important intermediary as regards culture it was necessary, in order to limit the survey, to 'exclude' primary school influence as far as possible. Likewise, the attitudes of and influence from the parents and the family are not included directly in the survey.     #  Children are often not taken very seriously within sociological research, and their reliability as respondents and the quality of the information they can give are often questioned. There are special problems to take into consideration in connection with sociological surveys of children and young people. From similar surveys the primary investigators have experienced that problems occur; however, these problems are not so great that they cannot be solved by, among other things, a very thorough preparatory work with the methods which the investigators want to use.     #  There are obstacles to overcome, e.g. the generation gap. To which an extent do researchers and children understand each other as regards emotions, attitudes and language? How large a degree of confidence is it possible to achieve? Is it possible to arouse the children's interest in the project? Can the researchers make the children understand what the project is about? How close is it possible to get to each child? There are ethical considerations to take - not least in the interview situation.     #  In 1979 the age group between 9 and 12 consisted of approx. 330,000 children. It was decided to include approx. 1000 of these children. The reason for choosing this age group is that it is representative of a larger group of children beacuse there is a wider spread as regards development of this group than the 4 years it covers in age. At the same time this group is in general more active. The 9 to 12-year-olds are not yet influenced by the puberty, and they have the skills necessary for expressing themselves orally as well as in writing as regards their behaviour, interests, and attitudes.     #  15 municipalities were selected in collaboration with the Danish National Institute of Social Research. These municipalities were selected according to geographical distribution, one in each county as well as one municipality in the capital, and degree of urbanization, i.e. number of inhabitants in urban areas.     #  In each municipality a school district and a school were then selected. In connection with the selection of a school it was taken into account that the composition of the sample of children had to be as representative of the age group as possible. The final sample is equally distributed on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th forms.     #  The selected children have completed a questionnaire with questions about sex, age, social group, and place of residence, as well as general questions about their spare time activities and interests. There are only a few attitudinal questions, the reason for this being that such questions are difficult to answer in a questionnaire.     #  The questionnaire is constructed in such a way that as many questions as possible may be completed by marking it with a cross. There are only a few open questions, viz. in cases where it was not possible in advance to make closed questions or in cases where closed questions would not yield sufficient information.     #  The questionnaire contains a number of questions where the children had to state how often they do one particular thing. It is often difficult for children, and also for adults, to answer this type of questions as it is difficult to remember how often this or that takes place. In connection with the construction of the reply categories the primary investigators have tried to reduce this source of error as far as possible.     #  The completion of the questionnaires took place at the schools in the classes and under the supervision of one of the primary investigators in November 1977. Two consecutive periods were used in each class, and in most cases the form master was present and could be of assistance. All the pupils in the selected classes participated.     #  The completion of the questionnaires did not give rise to any problems. Most of the children thought that it was great fun to take part, and noone refused to participate; however, a few pupils were not allowed by their parents to take part. Apart from the open questions, which were difficult to answer - especially for the youngest children, the children's ability to complete the questionnaire was generally good, and so was the willingness to answer the questions. Even though the questionnaire contains a large number of questions none of the children gave up.     #  The anonymity of the children has been ensured in that they did not write their name on the questionnaire, and they cannot be identified in other ways
description: Se abstract
description: See abstract