Growing Up in the Online World – How Young People Engage with the Government Consultation on Social Media Use
For parents and carers of participants under 18
My name is Sarah Turner, Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UCL). I will be your contact if you have any questions about this research. My email address is at the bottom of this sheet; feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
This sheet explains what the research involves and how your child might participate. Please read it before completing the consent form.
What is this research?
Researchers at UCL are carrying out a short study on how young people engage with a government survey about children’s social media use. Your child’s school has agreed to take part.
The UK Government has released a public consultation asking people what they think should happen with social media for children. It includes a survey for young people aged 10–21. This research looks at how young people read and respond to that survey, and what they want to say to the government about social media.
What will my child do?
Your child will take part in one session of approximately 90 minutes. In the session, they will:
- Look at the government’s survey and think about whether the questions are fair and useful
- Write their own answers to some questions about social media and AI on a worksheet
- Take part in a group discussion
- Tell the researcher what they want included in a response to the government consultation
There are no right or wrong answers. Your child can skip any question they do not want to answer and can stop taking part at any point without any consequence.
The researcher will aggregate your child’s answers with all the other answers received by other children taking part in the research and use them to form a response to the full consultation, which has more detail and opportunity for providing full responses. Answers used to inform the consultation response will be used with no reference to name, school or location, only the age of the child. Additionally, the data collected will be used to write academic and policy reports; depending upon what is collected, the researcher may also be able to create guides for parents, teachers and other interested groups.
If you would like your child to be thanked by name or pseudonym in any published research, or keep informed of progress and publications arising from this research, please tick the relevant boxes add your email address in the appropriate section of the consent form.
What are the benefits of taking part?
Your child will engage with a real government consultation that directly affects young people. The session helps develop critical thinking skills: your child will look at how survey questions are designed, consider what is included and what is left out, and practise forming and articulating their own views on a policy question. They will also learn about how democratic consultation processes work and who gets to have a say in them.
What are the potential downsides of taking part?
The session asks your child to think about how the government consults young people. Some children may feel frustrated or disillusioned when they see that children were not asked the same questions as adults. Group discussion about social media may include topics that are upsetting, such as other students’ (or their own) negative experiences. Your child does not have to answer any question they are uncomfortable with and can stop taking part at any time.
What information will be collected?
- The group discussion will be audio recorded. The recording of participant voices is considered the collection of personal data. The recording will be transcribed using either Microsoft Teams or offline transcription software and then deleted. This anonymises the responses, removing the personaldata from the information collected. Transcripts are stored securely on UCL systems.
- Worksheets for writing on will be used. Children participating will be asked not to write their names on them (as they are personal data); any names written will be blocked out before the worksheet is used for analysis (this anonymises the responses, removing the personal data from the information collected).
Because the session involves group discussion, the researcher cannot guarantee that other participants will keep what is said private. The researcher will ask all participants to respect each other’s privacy, but this cannot be enforced.
Keeping your child safe
The session is held at your child’s school, or other recognised setting with a teacher (or other DBS-check individual) present throughout. The researcher holds an enhanced DBS check. The session is not intended to draw upon distressing experiences however, if your child appears distressed at any point, the teacher can support them or take them out of the session.
If your child says something that raises a safeguarding concern, or that makes the researcher worried about the safety of another person, the researcher will follow the school’s safeguarding procedures.
Do I need to give permission?
Yes, if you are happy for your child to take part then we need your consent. Please complete the consent form. If your child is 18 or will turn 18 before the session, they can give their own consent using a separate form.
Your child will also be asked to confirm that they are happy to take part on the day of the session. They can change their mind at any time.
Withdrawing
You or your child can withdraw from the research at any time before the session. After the session, you or your child can ask for the data to be withdrawn up to a week after the session date. Because of the lack of personal information linked to survey responses, this will be done on a best efforts basis.
To withdraw, please contact the researcher using the details below.
How we handle your data
- Participants will be asked not to write their name on the worksheets they use. Any names will be blocked out. The worksheets will be scanned. Scanned copies are stored securely on UCL systems. Paper copies are destroyed after scanning.
- Audio recordings are transcribed using either Microsoft Teams or offline transcription software and then deleted. Transcripts have any identifiable data anonymised and are stored securely on UCL systems.
- Consent data (collecting both your name and your child’s name) is collected via REDCap (an online survey tool) and stored securely on UCL systems.
The anonymised worksheet scans and transcriptions will be held for 10 years after the end of the research. It may be accessed by other researchers in this time.
Your and your child’s data protection rights
Under data protection law, you and your child have the right to access the personal data held about your child, to have inaccurate data corrected, and to request deletion of your child’s data (subject to the limitations described under “Withdrawing” above). The lawful basis for processing personal data in this study is the performance of a task in the public interest (research). No special category data is collected.
If you have any concerns about how personal data is being handled, you can contact UCL’s Data Protection Officer at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk.
Formal Data Protection Privacy Notice
The controller for this project is University College London (UCL). The UCL Data Protection Officer provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk.
This ‘local’ privacy notice sets out the information that applies to this study. Further information on how UCL uses participant information from research studies can be found in the ‘general’ privacy notice at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/ucl-general-research-participant-privacy-notice
The information required to be provided to participants under data protection legislation (GDPR and DPA 2018) is provided across both the ‘local’ and ‘general’ privacy notices. The lawful basis for processing personal data is ‘Public task.’ No special category data is collected from this participant group.
The personal data collected for this participant group includes: parent/carer name and email address (via consent form), child name, audio recording of group discussion (deleted after transcription).
Personal data will be processed for as long as required for the research project. Where possible, personal data will be anonymised, and data processing will be minimised wherever possible.
Anyone with concerns about how personal data is being processed, or who would like to enquire about their rights, should contact UCL in the first instance at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk.
Sarah Turner – s.turner@ucl.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellow, UCL Knowledge Lab, 23–29 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QS
This project has been reviewed and approved by the UCL IOE Research Ethics Committee: REC2394.
Data protection registration number – No Z6364106/2026/03/183