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Dependent Interviewing:

Seminar, University of Essex 16-17 September 2004

Peter Shepherd

Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London

Birth Cohort StudiesNational Child Development Study, 1970 British Cohort Study, Millennium Cohort Study

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Birth Cohort StudiesNational Survey of Health and Development (NSHD)

Those living in GB born in one week in 1946

National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD)Those living in GB born in one week in 1946

National Child Development Study (NCDS)All those living in GB born in one week in 1958

National Child Development Study (NCDS)All those living in GB born in one week in 1958

1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)All those living in GB born in one week in 1970

1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)All those living in GB born in one week in 1970

Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)All those born in selected areas of UK over 12 months

beginning September 2000 in England and Wales, and December 2000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)All those born in selected areas of UK over 12 months

beginning September 2000 in England and Wales, and December 2000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland

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Birth Cohort Studies – Main surveys

Notes1 Initial survey carried out at c8 weeks2 Initial survey carried out at c9 months(Age) Sample surveys

Age of cohort members at time of main surveysAge of cohort members at time of main surveys

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Goals of Birth Cohort Studies Modelling causal processes from birth to adulthood leading to current

outcomes and assessing the risk of future outcomes.

Assessing the stability of hypothesised causal processes across cohorts.

Comparing the prevalence of behaviour and attributes across cohorts, ages and periods.

Assessing inter-generational continuities and discontinuities in circumstances, behaviour and attributes.

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Why cohort studies are important

Expensive compared to cross-sectional surveys, but are important because:

They tell the linked stories of the lives of the members They record how long someone occupies a given

state They link events across the life course & across

domains They enable investigation of the cause & effects, early

experience to later outcomes

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Life course Perspective

Holistic

Transitions & pathways

Interconnectedness

Linked lives

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Design Principles Continuity & comparability

Age, cohort & period effects

Spatial effects

Consultation

Harmonisation

Life course perspective

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MCS - Design Features Cohort born over 12 month period

Season of birth effects Spread workload of professional interviewers Sampling necessitated

Geographically clustered by electoral ward

Wards disproportionately stratified - 3 types:

advantaged; disadvantaged1; and high minority ethnic2

Content multi-purpose & multidisciplinary

1 Poorest 25% of wards on Child Poverty Index.2 At least 30% of 1991 Census ward population = 'Black‘/'Asian‘ – England only.

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MCS – Sweeps & sources of informationMCS1 MCS2

(2001/2) (2003/4)9 months 3 years

Mother Mother

Father Father

Child

Older siblings

Birth records

Medical records

18,819 ?

MCS3 MCS4(2005/6) (2007/8)5 years 7 years

Mother Mother

Father Father

Child Child

Older siblings

Older siblings

Teachers

Education records

Education records

Medical records

Medical records

? ?

Includes c500 ‘new families’ missed by DWP at MCS1

Includes c500 ‘new families’ missed by DWP at MCS1

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MCS1 – Achieved samples

ChildrenFamilies

interviewed Partners

Single Parents

Total UK 398 20,646 18,819 18,553 13,599 3,194

ENGLAND 200 13,146 11,695 11,533 8,558 1,853

WALES 73 3,000 2,799 2,761 1,957 590

N IRELAND 63 2,000 1,955 1,923 1,326 376

SCOTLAND 62 2,500 2,370 2,336 1,758 375

Notes ** all productive contacts* counting 'superwards' as a single

Achieved Responses **Number of sample

'wards' *

Target sample as boosted

NB: Wards vary in births/12 months (4-600). To minimise fieldwork problems, small wards combined as 'superwards' with at least 24 expected births/12 months.

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MCS1 - Response RatesAchieved Response Rate

In-scope Fieldwork Response Rate

WALES 72% 84%

ENGLAND 68% 82%

SCOTLAND 70% 85%

NORTHERN IRELAND

63% 79%

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MCS1 & 2 - Main/Partner Topics

Topic Main PartnerHousehold A: Non-resident parentsB: Father’s involvement with baby C: Pregnancy, Labour and Delivery D: Baby’s health and development E: Childcare F: Grandparents and Friends G: Parent’s health H: Self-completion (Attitudes to marriage, parenting, work, etc)

J: Employment and Education K: Housing and local area L: Interests and time with baby

Topic Main Partner1 Household 2 Parental situation 3 Parent’s involvement with child 4 Child Health 5 Grandparents and Friends 6 Parent’s health 7 Housing and local area 8 Employment and education 9 Employment history 10 Childcare 11 Other Matters 12 Self-completion

13 Older siblings

(Child behaviour, discipline mental health, relationships, attitudes to parenting, drugs, alcohol, life satisfaction etc)

MCS1 MCS2 (including c500 ‘new families’)

more…

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Cohort studies - Why use dependent interviewing

With thanks to: Mathiowetz Nancy A.  and McGonagle Katherine A. (2000) An assessment of the current state of dependent interviewing  in household surveys Journal of official statistics 16 pp 401-418

Why use dependent interviewing Now FutureDesign a more efficient means of collecting information, eliminating recording redundancies

Reduce respondent burden Reduce measurement error associated with responses to open-ended items, specifically those in which slight variation in response wording results in significant differences with respect to a classification.

Reduce or eliminate seam effects

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MCS2 - Feed forward/Dependent interviewingMCS2 MCS1 feed forwardRoutes for 'old' / 'new' families MCS1 participationCorrectly identify MCS child(ren) Name / sex / dob Identify ‘main’ / ’partner’ respondents / their whereabouts

‘Main’ / ’partner’ name

Recall period Interview dateGuidance for interviewer ‘Main’ / ‘partner’ sight / language problemBreastfeeding ‘Still breastfeeding’Grandparents involvement with children / grandchild(ren); separation

‘Main’ / ‘partner’ parents alive / dead / separated at last survey

Basic skills problems ‘Main’ basic skills problemsEmployment history ‘Main’ employment status Childcare arrangements / history Childcare arrangementsOlder siblings Older sibling in household grid

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MCS2 – Use of feed forward 1

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MCS2 – Use of feed forward 2

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MCS2 – Use of feed forward 3

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NCDS - Follow-ups & information sourcesP M S N C D S 1 N C D S 2 N C D S 3 N C D S 4 N C D S 5 N C D S 6

( 1 9 5 8 ) ( 1 9 6 5 ) ( 1 9 6 9 ) ( 1 9 7 4 ) ( 1 9 8 1 ) ( 1 9 9 1 ) ( 2 0 0 0 )B i r t h 7 1 1 1 6 2 3 3 3 4 2

1 7 , 7 3 3 a 1 6 , 8 8 3 1 6 , 8 3 5 1 6 , 9 1 5 1 6 , 4 5 7 1 5 , 6 0 0 1 5 , 1 4 5

M o t h e r — P a r e n t s — P a r e n t s — P a r e n t s

S c h o o l — S c h o o l — S c h o o l

T e s t s — T e s t s — T e s t s

M e d i c a l — M e d i c a l — M e d i c a l — M e d i c a l

S u b j e c t — S u b j e c t — S u b j e c t — S u b j e c t — S u b j e c t — S u b j e c t

C e n s u s — C e n s u s

S p o u s e / P a r t n e r

M o t h e r c

C h i l d r e n

1 7 , 4 1 4 b 1 5 , 5 6 8 1 5 , 5 0 3 1 4 , 7 6 1 1 2 , 5 3 7 1 1 , 4 0 7 1 1 , 4 1 9

}

1 i n 3 s a m p l e

Exams – details of public examination results were gathered from schools and colleges in 1978

Exams – details of public examination results were gathered from schools and colleges in 1978

Information gathered includes:HealthBehaviourFamilyEducationEmploymentAttitudes

Information gathered includes:HealthBehaviourFamilyEducationEmploymentAttitudes

Notesa: Target sample - Excludes emigrants, refusals & deaths. Includes immigrants at NCDS1-3.b: Achieved sample - At least on survey instrument partially completedc: Mother - Could be Cohort Member or spouse/partner

N C D S 7( 2 0 0 4 )

4 6

1 2 , 8 0 0

— S u b j e c t

?

}

1 i n 3 s a m p l e

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BCS70 - Follow-ups & information sources

BBS CHES CHES Youthscan BCS70 BCS70(1970) (1975) (1980) (1986) (1996) (2000)Birth 5 10 16 26 30

Mother — Parents — Parents — Parents

School — School

Tests — Tests — Tests

Medical — Medical — Medical — Medical

Subject — Subject — Subject — Subject

16,135a 13,135 14,875 11,628 9,003 11,261

Notesa: Achieved sample. NB: Target sample excluded emigrants, refusals & deaths; and included immigrants in 1975 & 1980.

Information gathered includes:HealthBehaviourFamilyEducationEmploymentAttitudes

Information gathered includes:HealthBehaviourFamilyEducationEmploymentAttitudes

BCS70(2004)

34

— Subject

Children (1 in 2 sample)

?

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BCS70/NCDS 2004: Feed forward/Dependent interviewingBCS70/NCDS 2004 BCS70/NCDS 2000 feed forwardCorrectly identify BCS70 cohort member Name / sex / dob Recall period Interview dateGuidance for interviewer Sight / hearing / speech / reading / learning /

other problem / children aged 0-13Household grid Household grid - name / age /relationship of

household membersPartnership status / history Partner statusPregnancy history / children / adopted children

Children / adopted children

Current housing / history Date moved into current accommodationMarital status / partnership history Marital status / partnership historyPartner education Age partner left educationEconomic activity / job history Economic activityPartner’s economic activity Partner’s economic activityHeight HeightParents in household / separation / death Parents in household / separation / death

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Cohort Studies - Websites for further information

MCS: http://cls.ioe.ac.uk/Cohort/MCS/mcsmain.htm

 

BCS70: http://cls.ioe.ac.uk/Cohort/Bcs/mainbcs.htm

 

NCDS: http://cls.ioe.ac.uk/Cohort/Ncds/mainncds.htm

 

ESDS Longitudinal: http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/introduction.asp

 

UK Data Archive: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/

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END