Innovative approaches to methodological challenges facing ageing cohort studies

Day 1: Wednesday 25 July 2012
MANDEC, 3rd Floor, University Dental Hospital, Higher Cambridge Street, Manchester, M15 6FH
Booking form

Day 2: Thursday 26 July 2012
Room: TBC

Booking form

This conference brings together key themes explored in the previous NCRM workshops on the methodological challenges to ageing cohort studies (http://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/ageingcohort/). The focus of this conference will be innovative solutions that have been developed by researchers to deal with problems associated with ageing cohort studies. In particular, some solutions to challenges related to attrition, missingness, comparability across cohorts and over time, and data collection will be highlighted over two days. The first day will feature presentations and where appropriate, a demonstration of syntax programming for statistical packages. The second day will feature practical sessions in a computer lab using statistical software packages.

Please note: It is not compulsory to attend both days.

Day 1 Presentations: 11am- 4pm
James Banks (IFS and University of Manchester)- Attrition and Health in Ageing Studies: Evidence from ELSA and HRS. This presents an investigation into observable characteristics associated with attrition in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with a particular focus on whether attrition is systematically related to health outcomes and socioeconomic status.
Ian Plewis (University of Manchester)- Using auxiliary variables to adjust for longitudinal missingness. Different sorts of auxiliary variables – variables measured at previous waves, frame variables and paradata - can be used to improve the accuracy of response propensity models, and to enhance adjustments for missing longitudinal data. These variables can be used when constructing iterative probability weights, carrying out multiple imputations, and specifying models that jointly model a substantive process and the missingness mechanism. Data from the first two waves of the UK Millennium Cohort Study are used to illustrate the potential value of auxiliary variables.
Rebecca Hardy (NSHD and UCL)- Statistical issues in meta-analysing multiple ageing cohort studies. This presentation examines recent publications from the HALCYON study team that have overcome methodological challenges to meta-analysis of observational cohort studies. In particular, challenges on data comparability across cohorts and over time will be highlighted.
Natasha Wood (Natcen)- Overcoming problems associated with retrospective data collection in cohort studies. This presentation looks at the development of the lifegrid for retrospective data collection and its CAPI implementation in the ELSA life history interview.

Day 2 Computer based practical workshops: 10am- 4pm
Rebecca Landy (QMW) : A simulation of 1946 birth cohort data under three missing data mechanisms (MCAR, MAR and MNAR), using three missing data methods - complete case, multiple imputation and Heckman selection. This session takes the student through the STATA syntax used when applying these missing data methods.
Gopalakrishnan Netuveli and Morten Wahrendorf (ICLS and Imperial College): The lifegrid data structure for ELSA and the Survey for Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) will be described, highlighting similarities and differences. This will be followed by a practical demonstration of handling lifegrid data based on ELSA data using STATA.
The workshop is free for participants to attend but registration is essential. Workshop attendees may claim some travel expenses. Please email veronica.smith@manchester.ac.uk for further details.

Using Freedom of Information in Research

Date and place: 10 May 2012, Southampton

Course leader: Dr Cathy Murray, University of Southampton

This one day event will explore the use of Freedom of Information requests as an innovative way of conducting research, either as a stand-alone approach or in combination with other research methods. Examples of empirical studies conducted on Children in Care in the UK and on the British government's role in the Rwandan genocide will be presented. These studies will illustrate how researchers have successfully utilised the UK Freedom of Information Act (which came into effect in 2005) to conduct their research, by making Freedom of Information requests to elicit data. Importantly, there will be a session on the background and context of the legislation and on the role of the Information Commissioner in enabling researchers to access the data they require for their studies. Finally, you will have an opportunity, in a facilitated workshop, to consider how to use Freedom of Information requests in your own research.

Fees: £30 for UK registered postgraduate students; £60 for staff at UK academic institutions, ESRC funded researchers and registered charity organisations; £220 for all other participants. All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoon tea.

To book your place in this course please go to the course details on NCRM website http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/show.php?article=3354

New NCRM paper: How many qualitative interviews is enough?

Students conducting a piece of qualitative research frequently ask ‘how many interviews is enough?’ Early career researchers and established academics also consider this question when designing research projects.

In this National Centre for Research Methods, Methods Review paper Rosalind Edwards (NCRM, Univ. Southampton) and Sarah Elsie Baker (Middlesex Univ.) gather and review responses to the question of ‘how many’ from 14 renowned social scientists and 5 early career researchers. Download the paper.