Substance abuse: Alcohol Consumption and alcohol dependence among the youth

Reasons for choosing the questionnaire as a method of my survey and a sample design.

I chose a questionnaire as a method of a data collection primarily because of the lack of ability (mostly time) to try to conduct an interview. Secondary, I consider the interview to be the inappropriate type of a survey in the case of such a delicate problem as alcoholism. An interview, no matter formal or informal, might provide a large bias I the data, thus in the analysis, because many people may consider it to be undesirable for them to let others know the bare truth about their lives.

Moreover, an interview can not be anonymous (at least the interviewer would be initiated in your problems). I also did not manage to avoid an overt participant observation…

As this sociological research is of a small scale (a sample of 36 persons) and was held among the students from one university (HSE), it did not include such complicated (and unnecessary in this case) methods of data collection as a telephone survey or mail survey, the refusals problem was eliminated. Though, just because of the same circumstances, it has a bias of representing only the smallest part of the Russian youth: Moscow students and my research would be more descriptive than analysing.

The multistage sample was conducted in the following way: 4 out 5 specialities were observed (I did not have the access to jurisprudence) and the representatives were chosen by a random sampling (using the table of random digits and student lists) according to a proportion of number of students on each speciality. Thus I have got 14 representatives of the economic speciality, 10- of management, 8- of sociological and 4- of the

ICEF.

Considering the fact that I dealt with students, I was not afraid of personal questions. Students, as young and open class of population, are far from being embarrassed when they are asked such.

The list of questions.

1. Your sex:

M___ F____

3. Your speciality?

A) Economics B) Management C) Sociology D) ICEF

2. Your attitude to the alcohol ?

А) Negative

B) Simply do not like, when there is someone drunk beside me.

C) Neutral

D) Positive

3. Do you drink alcohol?

А) Yes C) Did not ever try.

B) No

4. If not, why? ______________________________________________

5. If yes, in what age did you try it the first time (approximately)?

A) 5-10 years D) 15-17 years