The Quality of the Responses of Schoolchildren to Questions Concerning Family Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

The article investigates the quality of the answers given by school-age children in survey questionnaires. We present the results of a systematic review of studies dedicated to the socioeconomic status of the family. By answer quality, we mean the ability of children to correctly indicate the educational attainment and profession of their parents and the number of skipped questions. The article focuses on assessing school students’ responses about the level of education, profession, or form of employment of parents. We investigate the role that is played by the following traits of respondents: age, academic performance, and family composition. The review is based on 16 studies that were conducted between 1990 and 2015. The obtained results allow us to conclude that high school students are generally aware of the level of education and profession of their parents. Respondents’ answers can essentially be used as a basic source of information. At the same time, we must be careful about how we methodologically process the judgments of schoolchildren.