Transmitting values to the next generation is a key task, both within families and the society more broadly (Roest, Dubas, & Gerris, 2009; Schwartz, 2014, Döring, Makarova, Herzog, & Bardi., 2017). Research on value transmission at an early age is rather new; yet it has expanded quickly in the past years. New methods have been developed to assess children’s values, e.g. the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C, Döring et al., 2010), the Animated Values Instrument (Collins, et al., 2017) and awareness of the significance of values in children’s and adolescents’ development has increased. This presentation reports on conducting a study that examines the formation of children’s values during the first two years of primary school. It addresses general methodological challenges of conducting a survey with standardised instruments (PBVS-C and questionnaire) in this young age. These challenges concern levels of language skills, cognitive capacities, and abilities for abstract thinking. Moreover, it addresses more specifically the issue of conducting a survey among first grade pupils using a digital version installed on tablets. This presentation reflects on the experiences of the piloting phase of a larger longitudinal project and addresses the following research questions: Q1. What kinds of adaptations need to be applied to research instruments and instructions’ procedures when preparing a survey in primary school classes? Q2. Which methodological challenges can be anticipated when conducting an analogue or a digital survey with children at this young age? Which solutions can be suggested? Primary school children from different cantons in Switzerland (n ⁓ 150) completed an analogue or digital version of the PBVS-C and of a children’s questionnaire on value formation during the piloting phase (January 2021) of a research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Firstly, instruments have been adapted (e.g., applying simple language and drawings) and designed (e.g., scaling operating smileys) to create a questionnaire that is as comprehensible as possible. Secondly, a digital version of the survey has been developed using UniPark. This presentation will present challenges the research team has experienced, lessons learned and solutions on how to adapt tools and questionnaires while researching children. To answer the research questions, descriptive statistics, correlations, and analysis of variance are used. Furthermore, this presentation highlights that even during a pandemic when schools are closed or are not accessible for research teams, research on children even at this young age can still be conducted using a well-developed digital survey.

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