The research methodology comprised the following components: development and agreement of the survey indicators and questionnaire with the key stakeholders, administration of the survey in the field, and analysis of the survey and the administrative data by the priority areas enumerated in the National Youth Policy Document.

In addition, information was requested from the following administrative sources:

• Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia
• Social Service Agency
• National Center for Disease Control and Public Health
• Central Election Commission
• The Ministry of Corrections, Probations and Legal Assistance of Georgia
• State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
• Supreme Court of Georgia
• Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Scientific-Practical Center
• The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia
• The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs of Georgia.

Sampling methodology

The respondents were sampled from the 2002 General Population Census frame. Since the survey requirement was to have certain data representative at the regional level, the sample size was defined as 2,500 persons.

At the first stage this number was distributed proportional to the regional population (see Table 1).

Table 1. Distribution of the sample size across regions

A two-step sampling method was used, where an enumeration area (primary sampling unit) was selected at the first stage and a household was selected at the second stage. In order to reduce the ‘design effect’ for enumeration areas sampled by types of settlement, it was decided to interview five people of the relevant age in urban areas and eight people of the relevant age in rural areas. The smaller number of interviews in urban areas compared with those in rural areas is due to the assumption of a larger variety of responses in urban areas. A smaller number of interviews in an urban area leads to an increase in the number of districts, thus conditioning a reduction in the ‘design effect’. Accordingly, the number of people surveyed had to be divisible by five in urban areas and by eight in rural areas.

In addition, according to the above-mentioned assumption (larger variety of responses to the survey issues by the urban population) it was decided that the urban population would have a larger than proportionate representation in the sample, which in turn would provide for a reduction in sampling error.

Based on the above-mentioned assumptions, the final distribution of the sample size across regions and by urban-rural areas was defined (see Table 3).

Table 2. Final distribution of selection volume by regions and urban-rural areas

In addition, considering the above-mentioned conditions, the number of selected enumeration areas by regions and urban-rural areas was defined (see table 4).

Table 3. Numbers of selected enumeration areas by regions and urban-rural areas

The enumeration areas (EAs) in regions were selected proportional to the population size (PPS method), while systematic sampling was used for selecting households within the EAs.