Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) 2015: Online Feasibility Study

7 Recommendations

7.1 The key recommendation is that the SALSUS 2015 electronic trial should move past break-point one and an online pilot should be conducted because it does appear feasible to conduct SALSUS online in 2015.

7.2 If the pilot goes well, and the trial progresses past break-point two, the mode effect experiment should be a two-way mode experiment comparing paper completion in classrooms to online completion on PCs in ICT suites.

7.3 As the mode effect study will focus on PCs in ICT suites, the online pilot should do the same. However, as a number of schools would be administering SALSUS online in classrooms, we would recommend including at least some of these schools in the pilot.

7.4 The online pilot should focus on the following areas:

• testing logistical issues (including timetabling, accommodating all pupils in a PSE class and establishing exam conditions)
• testing software issues (including software compatibility, connectivity and access to survey links)
• assessing pupil reaction to the survey.