Ethical aspects
More and more countries are introducing different kinds of ethical rules to protect the integrity of their citizens. Many of those rules relate to the recording of personal data, and some of them apply to research activities. From an ESPAD perspective, ethical rules may, for example, entail a requirement to obtain the approval of an ethics committee or the consent of parents. According to Table B, the approval of an ethics committee was asked for and obtained in 13 countries in 2015.
The ESPAD guidelines emphasise that ESPAD surveys should be confidential and anonymous. It is also important for students to be informed that answering the questionnaire is voluntary. In addition, it is the responsibility of each research team to comply with all national laws, regulations and guidelines concerning research ethics. According to Table B, all countries stated that they followed their national ethical rules when collecting the data.
It was necessary to obtain some form of parental consent in roughly three quarters of the countries. Normally, passive consent was sufficient, but for three countries active parental consent was required. According to Table C, 0.5 % (0.0-1.5 %) of the students could not take part in the study due to parental refusal in countries where only passive consent was needed. In Georgia, Portugal and Romania active parental consent was demanded, which resulted in higher refusal rates. According to the standard instructions, the students are informed that the study is voluntary. On average, 0.5 % (0.0-1.5 %) of the students present in the classrooms refused to take part in the survey.
Table B. Ethical aspects. ESPAD 2015
Download XLS| Country | Ethical review needed | Parental consent needed | National ethical rules followed |
| Albania | No | No | Yes |
| Austria | No | In some schools | Yes |
| Belgium (Flanders) | No | In some schools | Yes |
| Bulgaria | No | In some schools (active) | Yes |
| Croatia | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Cyprus | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Czech Republic | No | No | Yes |
| Denmark | No | No | Yes |
| Estonia | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Faroes | No | No | Yes |
| Finland | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| FYR Macedonia a | No | No | Yes |
| France | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Georgia | Yes | Yes, active | Yes |
| Greece | Yes | Yes, mainly passive | Yes |
| Hungary | No | In some schools | Yes |
| Iceland | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Ireland | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Italy | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Latvia | Yes | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Liechtenstein | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Lithuania | No | In a third of the schools (passive) | Yes |
| Malta | No | No | Yes |
| Moldova | No | No | Yes |
| Monaco | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Montenegro | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Netherlands | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Norway | No | Yes, passive | Yes |
| Poland | No | In some schools | Yes |
| Portugal | Yes | Yes, active | Yes |
| Romania | Yes | Yes, active | Yes |
| Slovakia | No | In some schools | Yes |
| Slovenia | No | In some schools (active) | Yes |
| Sweden | No | No | Yes |
| Ukraine | Yes | No | Yes |
a Official name former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Table C. Refusals, discarded questionnaires and number of valid questionnaires. Students born in 1999. ESPAD 2015
Download XLS| Country | Refusals a | Discarded questionnaires (%) | Reduction of invalid due to discarding (%) | Reduction in ‘relevin’ due to discarding (%) | Valid questionnaires (n) | |||
| Parental refusal (%) | Student refusal (%) | Boys | Girls | All | ||||
| Albania | . | 0,0 | 2,2 | . | 18,2 | 1.217 | 1.336 | 2.553 |
| Austria c | 0,3 | 0,4 | 4,2 | . | 46,0 | 1.756 | 1.928 | 3.684 |
| Belgium (Flanders) | 0,1 | 0,0 | 2,3 | 100,0 | 0,0 | 918 | 853 | 1.771 |
| Bulgaria | 1,5 | 1,0 | 2,1 | 100,0 | 28,8 | 1.453 | 1.469 | 2.922 |
| Croatia | 1,7 | 0,0 | 2,3 | 71,4 | 49,0 | 1.337 | 1.221 | 2.558 |
| Cyprus | .. | .. | 3,8 | . | 43,9 | 1.008 | 1.090 | 2.098 |
| Czech Republic | . | 0,1 | 2,3 | . | 34,7 | 1.278 | 1.460 | 2.738 |
| Denmark | 0,0 | 0,2 | 1,3 | . | 55,0 | 796 | 874 | 1.670 |
| Estonia | 0,7 | 0,5 | 0,5 | . | 28,2 | 1.224 | 1.228 | 2.452 |
| Faroes | . | 0,0 | 0,2 | . | 0,0 | 257 | 254 | 511 |
| Finland | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,7 | 60,0 | 39,6 | 1.958 | 2.091 | 4.049 |
| FYR Macedonia d | 0,0 | 0,0 | 3,0 | 58,3 | 32,0 | 1.179 | 1.249 | 2.428 |
| France c | 0,6 | 0,5 | 0,9 | . | 27,6 | 1.334 | 1.380 | 2.714 |
| Georgia | 2,0 | 0,1 | 1,1 | 100,0 | 21,4 | 1.047 | 919 | 1.966 |
| Greece | 1,4 | 0,6 | 0,5 | 40,0 | 42,6 | 1.576 | 1.626 | 3.202 |
| Hungary | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,8 | 15,4 | 34,4 | 1.372 | 1.363 | 2.735 |
| Iceland | 0,1 | 0,8 | 0,9 | . | 40,5 | 1.312 | 1.351 | 2.663 |
| Ireland | 0,0 | 1,2 | 1,5 | 66,7 | 45,5 | 749 | 721 | 1.470 |
| Italy | 0,1 | 0,2 | 2,6 | 92,9 | 39,8 | 2.093 | 1.966 | 4.059 |
| Latvia | 1,4 | 1,3 | 7,6 | . | 59,5 | 558 | 561 | 1.119 |
| Liechtenstein | 0,0 | 0,9 | 0,0 | . | 0,0 | 143 | 173 | 316 |
| Lithuania | 0,7 | 0,4 | 0,6 | 0,0 | 31,6 | 1.303 | 1.270 | 2.573 |
| Malta | . | 0,0 | 0,8 | 14,3 | 34,4 | 1.665 | 1.661 | 3.326 |
| Moldova | . | 0,2 | 1,6 | 100,0 | 43,3 | 1.325 | 1.261 | 2.586 |
| Monaco | 0,1 | 0,0 | 1,7 | . | 61,8 | 202 | 195 | 397 |
| Montenegro | . | 0,1 | 1,9 | 31,3 | 53,5 | 1.957 | 1.887 | 3.844 |
| Netherlands | 0,1 | 0,1 | 1,5 | 100,0 | 52,6 | 853 | 831 | 1.684 |
| Norway | 0,0 | 0,4 | 4,2 | . | 48,6 | 1.354 | 1.231 | 2.585 |
| Poland | 0,6 | 0,5 | 2,5 | . | 25,4 | 5.658 | 6.164 | 11.822 |
| Portugal | 6,0 | 1,2 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 18,2 | 1.568 | 1.888 | 3.456 |
| Romania | 6,9 | 1,1 | 0,5 | 66,7 | 24,8 | 1.711 | 1.789 | 3.500 |
| Slovakia | 0,2 | 0,0 | 0,7 | . | 43,4 | 1.108 | 1.100 | 2.208 |
| Slovenia | 0,8 | 1,2 | 0,7 | 25,0 | 23,0 | 1.675 | 1.809 | 3.484 |
| Sweden b | . | 1,5 | 3,0 | . | 50,8 | 1.265 | 1.289 | 2.554 |
| Ukraine | . | 0,1 | 0,6 | . | 35,4 | 1.126 | 1.223 | 2.349 |
| AVERAGE (%)/TOTAL (n) | 1,0 | 0,5 | 1,8 | 57,9 | 35,2 | 47.335 | 48.711 | 96.046 |
b Sweden included a third option to the question on gender (not able to specify gender belonging). Discarded questionnaires also includes students stating this option.
c Reduction in ‘relevin’: results for Austria and France refer to all students born in 1999, not only the ESPAD sample since further cases are removed when new weightings are introduced in the final data.
d Official name former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.