Ofcom Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes (COBA) 2023
Study details from the Studies index, with sources and citations for each field.
Notes · Non-probability (online panel); Children answer directly from age 8; parents answer for younger children. Age bands 3-4 / 5-7 / 8-11 / 12-15 / 16-17 — 8-11 is the only band entirely below 13, base 816 unweighted / 936 weighted
References
Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire— COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)
Ofcom (2023). Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023: Children's Online Behaviour and Attitudes (COBA) survey questionnaire. London: Ofcom.
instrument- Publication page:
- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/our-research/statistical-release-calendar-2024-#childrenmediatracker
- Retrieved on:
- 2026-07-30
- Pages:
- 47
- Archived source:
- Download PDF
- File verification
File verification details
SHA-256:
4cb58faf967375b79d2ce50caa16d5e33a85253d10d90f9d4d7660b99cb8b20c
Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report— Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Report
Ofcom (2023). Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023: Technical report (all surveys). London: Ofcom.
methodology- Publication page:
- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/our-research/statistical-release-calendar-2024-#childrenmediatracker
- Retrieved on:
- 2026-07-30
- Pages:
- 15
- Archived source:
- Download PDF
- File verification
File verification details
SHA-256:
6f7af4237dd0567ef318c29162b907d2a0221d63960bd3f25ecfff34d0fbfc3e
Ofcom COBA 2023 data tables— COBA 2023 Data Tables (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)additional source
Ofcom (2023). Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023: Children's Online Behaviour and Attitudes (COBA) survey data tables. London: Ofcom.
crosstabs- Publication page:
- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/our-research/statistical-release-calendar-2024-#childrenmediatracker
- Retrieved on:
- 2026-07-30
- Pages:
- 492
- Archived source:
- Download PDF
- File verification
File verification details
SHA-256:
1ccc09209038d17cfe70cd438a1c73a8fe6bdfdedcc57219d90ba27e1c34ab92
Study details & methodology
| Name | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “Children’s and Parents’ online behaviours and attitudes study (COBA)” |
| Country | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “All interviewing was conducted through an online panel; interviewing parents” UK. |
| Publication year | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 1open file ↗ “Published 1 February 2024” Year is the publication year. Fieldwork ran 30 October to 27 November 2023 (see Fieldwork dates). |
| Fieldwork dates | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “Fieldwork was conducted in one wave from 30th October to 27th November” 30 October to 27 November 2023. |
| Sample size | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “A total of 3,383 interveiws were conducted” Full Children’s Online Behaviour and Attitudes sample: 3,383 children aged 3–17. Parents provide responses for children under 8; children aged 8–17 answer directly. The bullying questions and QC20 own-profile question shown here are child self-reports; their eligible bases differ from the full-study sample. The published age-band bases sum to 1,990 child respondents aged 8–17. |
| Age range | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “Media use and attitudes among children and young people aged 3-17 and” |
| Sampling | Ofcom CMLT 2023 technical report — Children's Media Literacy Tracker 2023 Technical Reportp. 4open file ↗ “Parents of 3 to 17 year old children and also their child if aged 8 to 17” Online panel, non-probability. |
Harms measured
| Bullying | Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire — COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)p. 38open file ↗ “People can be nasty or hurtful. It could be behind someone’s back, to their face, through”“It could be by being nasty through social media, games or other websites.” “And has this ever happened to you?” QC53B personal-victimization question, asked of children aged 8–17 after consent. The definition includes both in-person and digital conduct; QC55 identifies the channel. |
| Underage Use | Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire — COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)p. 30open file ↗ “Some can be used by anyone, but others need you to set up a profile first.” “Please click on those where you have your own profile.” QC20, self-reported by children aged 8-17. |
Offline or broader-context measurement
| Bullying | Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire — COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)p. 39open file ↗ “When somebody was nasty or hurtful to you did it happen in any of these ways?…” “Face to face” QC55, asked of 8-17s who said this had happened to them. |
Platforms measured
| Platform list | Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire — COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)p. 30open file ↗ “Below is a list of some of the apps/ sites that you said earlier that you use.” QC20 documents own profiles on 21 eligible single apps among 8–11s. The combined YouTube/YouTube Kids option is excluded; Imgur permits supervised under-13 use. Triller is excluded because its applicable minimum-age policy could not be verified. |
Per-app measurement by harm
| Underage Use | Ofcom COBA 2023 questionnaire — COBA 2023 Questionnaire (Children's Online Behaviour & Attitudes)p. 30open file ↗ “Please click on those where you have your own profile.” QC20 documents own profiles on 21 eligible single apps among 8–11s. The combined YouTube/YouTube Kids option is excluded; Imgur permits supervised under-13 use. Triller is excluded because its applicable minimum-age policy could not be verified. |