In this article we explore a Finnish nationally representative self-report survey (N = 155, 299) conducted in a school as a tool to advance the study of violence in alternative care. By analysing the survey, we were able to provide plausible prevalence and estimates of risk factors of violence in alternative care, suggesting that self-report surveys conducted in schools are a useful and valid methodology for this type of research. Conducting the survey in a school setting enabled us to reach a nationally representative population of adolescents living in alternative care, which would be difficult to achieve in any other way. However, studying violence in alternative care with a school survey requires a large sample size. Even with quite a substantial dataset, detailed explanatory analyses were not possible due to the low number of observations. This emphasises the importance of other types of data in addition to survey data in explanatory analysis. Based on this study, we concluded that nationally representative self-report surveys conducted in schools could provide a useful tool and possibilities for replicable research design, which could thereby develop the research field further.

中文翻译：

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利用学校自我报告调查研究替代性照料中的暴力行为：一种方法论

在本文中，我们探讨了一项在学校进行的芬兰全国代表性自我报告调查（N = 155, 299），作为推进替代性照料中暴力研究的工具。通过分析调查，我们能够提供替代性照料中暴力的合理流行率和风险因素估计，这表明在学校进行的自我报告调查是此类研究的有用且有效的方法。在学校环境中进行调查使我们能够接触到具有全国代表性的生活在替代性照料中的青少年群体，这是其他任何方式都难以实现的。然而，通过学校调查研究替代性照料中的暴力行为需要大量样本。即使有相当大的数据集，由于观察数量较少，也无法进行详细的解释性分析。这强调了解释性分析中除调查数据之外的其他类型数据的重要性。基于这项研究，我们得出结论，在学校进行的具有全国代表性的自我报告调查可以为可复制的研究设计提供有用的工具和可能性，从而进一步发展研究领域。