Distributed paper
RAY Monitoring of Erasmus+ Youth – Findings, challenges and future outlook
We are currently surveying project participants and project team members of the Erasmus+ Youth and the European Solidarity Corps programmes for the ongoing programme period (2021-2027). In order to shorten the waiting time for the arrival of the newest findings on the impact of the European youth programmes, our RAY transnational research team took a look back and produced a distributed paper for the ISA World Congress of Sociology (Melbourne, Australia, 2023) on the outcomes of the RAY Monitoring surveys of Erasmus+ Youth in Action from 2014-2020.
The comparative research and data reports for this period have been published last year:
RAY MON Comparative Research Report 2014-2020 [pdf 2MB]
RAY MON Comparative Data Report 2014-2020 [pdf 7,4MB]
Article on the effects and outcomes of Erasmus+ Youth in Action (published on the RAY website, January 2022)
Distributed paper on the RAY Monitoring Erasmus+ Youth in Action from 2014 until 2020
by Tanja Strecker, Andrea Horta Herranz, Ashley Pitschmann, Friedemann Schwenzer and Johannes Eick
In this paper the RAY Transnational Research Team discusses RAY data on the previous programme generation (2014-2020). Apart from sharing key findings, for instance regarding young people with fewer opportunities, they showcase advantages and challenges of working with such a huge database (56.691 fully valid responses of project participants). The current programme priorities (diversity and inclusion, digital transformation, environment and sustainability and participation in democratic life) give an ideal lens to show the immense contribution the data can make for evidence-based youth policies and practice, but also the limitations RAY is facing. The authors focus particularly on issues with comparability and adapting to changing times, on translation quality of the multilingual survey, online application and increasing survey fatigue particularly among youth.
RAY is currently revamping the surveys, aiming for a shorter and more attractive presentation through modularisation, mixed-device adaptability and youthful functions, such as emojis and voice notes. Technological and ethical challenges are manifold, e.g. regarding the opening up of the database to interested researchers and stakeholders. Assessing the impact the RAY research is having at different levels and thus fostering it further is yet another marker on RAY’s roadmap into the future.
The paper can be accessed HERE