Doing surveys among adolescents: An Opinion on Household vs. School-Based Survey

This analytical opinion piece explores the distinct benefits and obstacles associated with household-based and school-based surveys for gathering data on adolescent health behavior in the Malaysian context. The paper examines numerous essential factors such as sampling methods, data integrity challenges, logistical barriers, privacy issues, and ethical conflicts by utilizing the writers' personal experiences from conducting the Adolescents' Module during both the household-based Malaysia Health Literacy Survey (MHLS) 2023 and the MyMOHLA-Q 2023 school pilot test. Household-based surveys achieve broad representational sampling yet encounter challenges with participant response rates and logistical obstacles, including accessing individuals in remote locations. In contrast, school-based surveys benefit from increased response rates and controlled settings yet face challenges due to restricted school access and selection bias, which may result in unrepresentative data for students outside the school system. The experience-derived insights serve as a tool for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to identify suitable data collection methods for effective adolescent behavior studies.