A summary of the report on the Summer 2000 focus group sessions conducted by Environics Research Group for the Media Awareness Network (MNet). The sessions, funded by the Government of Canada, focused on how kids use the Internet, as well as on how parents view their children’s Internet use.

Background and Purpose

In March of 2000, Environics Research Group conducted a survey for the Media Awareness Network. Canada’s Children In A Wired World: The Parents’ View was conducted, by telephone, with parents of children between the ages of 6 and 16 years. All of the survey participants in this survey lived in computer-equipped households.

Following the completion of the initial survey, further exploration requirements were identified for qualitative research. In Summer 2000, focus groups related to child safety on the Internet were subsequently conducted with young people between the ages of 9 and 16 who had access to the Internet and who used it, and with parents of children between 7 and 16 years of age.

The purpose of this series of focus groups was to explore in greater detail some of the findings from the 2000 parent survey, and to identify key issues to be included in a follow-up student survey to be conducted in the school system in March 2002.

Research approach

Eight focus groups were conducted – four groups in Toronto and four in Montreal. In each group of students, participants were within six months of each other in age. Groups were organized by gender. The parents chosen had children between the ages of 7 and 16 living in their households. Some of these households had computers and Internet access at home. In other cases, parents reported that their children were users of the Internet, but there was no Internet access in their home.

In addition to the focus group discussion, young people participating in the study were provided with computers. They were encouraged to visit sites that they liked to use and/or to explore new sites. Their site visits were observed, and the history of their on-line activity captured for review and analysis.

For the full report on the focus group research as well as related documents, see the right sidebar.