Many organizations use a resiliency matrix to measure the current state of a child or a young person’s challenges and to help the child or young person prepare for difficult life situations. While each organization customizes the questionnaire, the basic idea is still the same, which is to gather data on adversity, vulnerability, protection, and resilience. These findings help the case worker to create a plan of action including but not limited to advice, support, and service for the young person’s wellbeing.

The dataset provided consists of basic demographic information plus responses to 17 questions where 1=no, 2=yes, 3=sometimes). More than half the respondents did not answer the survey. Among those who did, the most common answer to all the questions was ‘No’ (1). Given the nature of the questions, the fact that the mean is so close to 1 indicates that the surveyed group represents children in precarious family situations.

The correlation matrix above shows the correlation between each variable and all the others in the dataset. A correlation of 1 means that the two questions are always answered the same way, and a correlation of -1 implies that they are always answered the opposite way. However, no questions in the dataset were very strongly correlated. For example, the strongest correlation was only .45, which means that the answer to Q4 and Q11 was the same only 45% of the time.

This means that there is some value to keeping every question in the dataset because every additional question produces additional information. However, no questions have strong correlations to all of the others, meaning that our ability to use the answer to one question to predict the responses to all others is likely to be limited.

If you would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to contact us. To see the list of the questionnaire, please continue to read.

Questionnaire (1 through 17)

I get along with people around me
Getting an education is important to me
I know how to behave/act in different situations (such as school, home and church)
My parent(s)/caregiver(s) really look out for me
My parent(s)/caregiver(s) know a lot about me (for example, who my friends are, what I like to do)
If I am hungry, there is enough to eat
People like to spend time with me
I talk to my family/caregiver(s) about how I feel (for example when I am hurt or sad)
I feel supported by my friends
I feel that I belong/belonged at my school
My family/caregiver(s) care about me when times are hard (for example if I am sick or have done something wrong)
My friends care about me when times are hard (for example if I am sick or have done something wrong)
I am treated fairly in my community
I have chances to show others that I am growing up and can do things by myself
I feel safe when I am with my family/caregiver(s)
I have chances to learn things that will be useful when I am older (like cooking, working, and helping others)
I like the way my family/caregiver(s) celebrates things (like holidays or learning about my culture)