Social Research NZ has signed on to the Five-point plan for digital inclusion: COVID-19 and beyond established by InternetNZ and conducted research during 2020 exploring the role of families in digital technology outcomes. Most research has been focused on youth digital inclusion and exclusion educational institutions social class, gender, age, race affects digital outcomes

 

Social Research NZ conducted qualitative interviews with families to explore how they engage with digital technologies and services and how this shapes their digital outcomes. in the year 2020 Covid19 has amplified our need for digital technologies and it is important to understand how  impacted their use of, and attitudes and aspirations toward digital technologies. How do we see digital technology in our futures?

 

The need to address digital inclusion has also been amplified by the global Covid19 pandemic which has forced businesses to close, families into isolation, and New Zealand schools to transition to online teaching. Now more than ever, families are called upon to use digital technologies and so we need to understand what other barriers (beyond access and skills) there may be to achieving better digital inclusion outcomes.

 

Existing research, policies and education have focused largely on pragmatic means such as providing internet access and improving children’s digital skills to overcome persistent inequalities in children’s effective use of digital technologies. Despite such efforts over the last 20 years digital exclusion still persists and addressing this has become more urgent with the rapid digitalisation of the economy and society.

 

This project takes a fresh approach by exploring family dispositions toward digital technologies and seeks to understand how such dispositions may influence children’s digital inclusion now and in the future.

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We are looking for parents and their teenagers (aged anywhere between 13 -18) to take part in interviews that will be between 60-90 minutes. Teenagers will be sent a questionnaire and this is followed up with an interview about their use of digital technology and is generally around 45 minutes.

 

Families will receive up to $50 in food/petrol vouchers for participation.

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Email at admin@socialresearchnz.com or phone 027 2758585 to register.