Our Methodology
Our Methods
Springtide conducts a variety of online surveys for custom research projects and our own reporting. We occasionally contract with vendors to distribute our surveys to a subsample of their millions of national respondents who meet our survey requirements. Respondents are compensated per completed survey based on supplier rate and survey length. Surveys are typically in the field for 4 to 6 weeks.
Springtide’s samples of young people follow census splits for age, gender, region, and ethnicity/race and are therefore nationally representative along these demographics. However, because the Census Bureau does not ask questions about religion or other demographics, it is unclear how representative our samples are across all metrics. Survey data are therefore best understood as tracking broad patterns in young people’s perspectives rather than as providing precise point estimates.
The sample sizes for our surveys are project-dependent, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 respondents in order to conduct subgroup analyses of interest. Project sample sizes can be found in the methodology section of individual reports. To improve data quality, we use various validity checks to exclude respondents that finished too quickly, offered the same response option for every question, or attempted to take the survey more than once. Vendors we contract with additionally require potential respondents to verify their identities and create user profiles requiring yearly verification and updates.
Our team of researchers uses IBM SPSS, Stata, or R to clean and code the data. We transform data only to create ‘dummy’ variables that allow us to examine categorical data or, when applicable, to calculate scale scores.
We test survey instruments via cognitive interviews. Insights into how respondents interpret questions and response options help us amend surveys to improve the quality of the instrument.
When applicable, links to project-specific methodology statements, topline data, and The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) datasets are shared online.
Springtide conducts interviews by telephone or video call with young people across the country using a nonprobability sampling approach. We frequently recruit respondents via targeted mailers. We compile interested parties into a list, excluding those who do not meet a project’s inclusion criteria. From this list, we randomly select a smaller sample of individuals to contact for interviews. Sample sizes are project-dependent, ranging from 20 to 100 interviewees per project. Respondents are compensated for their participation.
Interviews typically last between 30 and 75 minutes. These interviews are guided but open-ended, allowing for unexpected themes to emerge while also maintaining as much consistency across interviews as possible. Each interview is coded and analyzed by at least two researchers to improve analytic reliability.
Springtide’s research involves young people, ages 13 to 25. We recognize the great responsibility that conducting research with young people entails. Thus, our entire team (not just our researchers) is trained in research ethics, compliance, and safety from the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative or CITI Program. Certificates of completion are available upon request from research@springtideresearch.org.
Protecting the privacy and well-being of young people is especially important to us. Young people under the age of 18 cannot participate in our studies without the informed consent of a parent or guardian. We do not collect or maintain information from young people we know to be under age 13.
Springtide’s project designs, study instruments, informed consent forms, and researcher credentials are reviewed by an external Institutional Review Board (IRB). IRBs operate under federal regulations established by the US Department of Health and Human Services. They review and monitor research involving human participants with the authority to approve, require modifications to, or reject research proposals. In this way, IRBs play a critical role in the protection of the rights and welfare of participants in the research process.
You can find out more about the external IRB Springtide uses at https://www.sterlingirb.com/.
This passion guides our work, along with our other overarching institutional values:
We are committed to contributing to the creation of a just and loving world, a world that recognizes the inherent dignity of the human person and that is oriented toward human flourishing. We do our part by listening to and amplifying the voices of young people, particularly those who have been historically marginalized based on race, gender, sexuality, ability, immigration status, income, age, and religion, and by advocating for their well-being.
We take a strengths-based approach to our work and to our understanding of young people. This means we focus on young people’s individual and generational strengths and potential, not on their deficits. We believe that young people are fully human and worthy of dignity and respect now, not in some far-away future when they’ve “grown up” or changed to satisfy our expectations.
We acknowledge how our social locations, values, and commitments shape the research process—from the kinds of research questions we undertake to the data-driven recommendations we make. We believe that although no human can make completely neutral observations of the world, people can acquire truthful knowledge and understanding of reality through disciplinary training, sound research methods, and critical interrogation.
We believe that all young people deserve compassionate care and accompaniment. Compassion is the ability to be conscious of—and moved to action by—the suffering of others. It is made possible by listening with an open heart and mind, knowing that each person’s life contains “mysteries which no one can fully know from without.” Only through this kind of compassionate posture can trusted adults help young people move away from languishing and toward flourishing.
Our research findings and conclusions are never altered to accommodate other interests, including those of the Christian Brothers, other organizations, churches, or government bodies and officials.
Toplines and Data Archive
You can explore topline survey results or the full dataset for The State of Religion & Young People 2023: Exploring the Sacred on The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA).
You can explore topline survey results or the full dataset for Cultivating Care: How & Why Young People Participate in Civic Life on The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA).
Topline survey results for Thirteen: A First Look at Gen Alpha
Who we are
Springtide Research Institute engages the power of social science to learn from and about young people ages 13 to 25. As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, we deliver accessible research on the perspectives and experiences of the newest generations. Our empirical data amplify the voices of young people, inform those who know and serve them, and lead the way in showing what’s next.
Learn more about us and meet the Springtide team here.
Our Values and Funding
Springtide Research Institute was founded in 2019 under the leadership of John Vitek, then CEO of Lasallian Educational and Research Initiatives (LERI). LERI is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) member organization in the State of Minnesota, whose publishing roots date back to 1943. LERI is an expression of a 300-year-old movement of educators founded by Jean Baptiste de La Salle, a fierce advocate of young people. Our work draws inspiration from De La Salle’s passion for building communities oriented toward the good of young people, especially those on the margins.