What is your role within ARK? 

As Survey Manager my primary role is to ensure that the annual Young Life and Times (YLT) and Kids’ Life and Times (KLT) surveys run smoothly. Working closely with ARK colleagues and funders, the process includes questionnaire design, implementation, and analysis to ensure that data are available and disseminated within agreed timeframes and in a range of formats. I am also involved on the question design for the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey.

What do you most enjoy about your role in ARK?

I find the work both enjoyable and stimulating. While some survey questions are repeated annually, each year brings new funders and new topics. It is interesting and challenging to work on the latter with colleagues and funders to ensure that the questions are focused and, as such, provide robust and relevant data. It is satisfying to know that the data are used widely.

As ARK Survey Manager, what is the focus of your research?

Working on YLT and KLT feeds directly into my research focus which is children and young people. The opinions and experiences of children and young people are often different from those of adults, and it is important that their views are not only elicited but listened to and shared. KLT and YLT offer opportunities to both monitor opinions on some issues over time, but also, as with the Covid-19 pandemic, address pressing and pertinent issues as they arise. Sometimes funders want to explore their ARK survey data further or integrate it with other work they are doing and in such instances, I can be involved in wider research projects. Most recently, these have included research on young people’s attitudes to and engagement with volunteering within a wider UK and Ireland framework, and the role of sport and physical activity in the lives of children and young people in Northern Ireland.

Find out more about Dr McKnight’s work: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/martina-mcknight.