Methodological challenges associated with Non-Response and Missing Data in ageing populations

3rd February 2012 11:00-16:30
Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER), Social Science Research Centre, room 2N2.4.16, University of Essex

The workshop brings together researchers and experts from different cohort and longitudinal studies with a common interest in dealing with the complexities of non-response and missing data. The workshop includes demonstrations using new software (Stata 12), as well as presentations from major ageing cohort studies. 

Topics and speakers include (the speaker list may change on the day):

11:00-11:45 Shaun Scoles, Centre for Applied Health Research, UCL Practical issues related to non-response, weighting and imputation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

11:45-12:30 Jonathan Bartlett, Department of Medical Statistics, LSHTM A demonstration of multiple imputation approaches and methods using Stata 12

12:30-13:15 Rebecca Landy, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, UCL A simulation of 1946 birth cohort data using three different missing data mechanisms- complete case, multiple imputation and Heckman selection.

13:15-14:00 Lunch

14:00-14:45 Paul Clarke, CMPO, University of Bristol Adjusting for non-ignorable non-response in a longitudinal analysis of residential mobility

14:45-15:30 Jenny Head, Whitehall II study, UCL  Joint modelling approaches to analysing health decline in studies with informative drop-out

15:30-15:45 Tea and coffee break

15:45-16:30 Peter Lynn, ISER, University of Essex Influences on response rates amongst older respondents in household panel surveys

The workshop is free for participants to attend but registration is essential. Workshop attendees can claim travel expenses. Please book a place using the booking form below:

http://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/ageingcohort/seminar-3/booking.shtml

NHS Lifestyle Surveys Consultation

The NHS Information Centre (IC) publishes the following Lifestyles survey publications: 

• Health Survey for England – Health, Lifestyles and Social Care
• Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England
• Infant Feeding Survey

The findings are used to provide an insight into the health and behaviour of people in England. The longevity of the surveys also enables changing trends to be studied over time. They can be used to help decision makers improve policies and services and ultimately improve the health of population in this country.

The NHS IC has launched a public consultation on the Lifestyles surveys with the following aims:

• to engage with the users of the surveys to develop a more complete understanding of the use made of this data
• to ensure the surveys are relevant and meaningful to the needs of users
• to seek the views of users on the content and format of the publications

This consultation will run for 12 weeks from Friday 30 December 2011 to Friday 23 March 2012. Please ensure you submit any comments prior to the closing date so they can be considered.

Further details, along with the full consultation document are available at

www.ic.nhs.uk/work-with-us/consultations/lifestyles-surveys-consultation-review

If you would like to know more about the consultation or if you have any queries, please contact the Lifestyles Statistics Section Head: 

Paul Eastwood

Email: paul.eastwood@ic.nhs.uk

Telephone: 0113 254 2509

Business Microdata Workshop

Researchers interested to know more about how business microdata might expand or accelerate their work are invited to a free workshop in London. The Secure Data Service, a partner of both the UK Data Archive and the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), is hosting the workshop in support of the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.

The half-day event, set for 21 February 2012 from 13.00 to 16.00, will be moved to the Medical Research Council offices in London to accommodate additional researchers.

The programme will provide an introduction to the range of business data made available to qualified and approved researchers through the Secure Data Service. This data is collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and other government agencies. These data are confidential and collected under statistics legislation. Because they are highly identifiable, they can only be accessed under secure conditions. Attendees will learn how the Secure Data Service works, including details on how to apply. There will also be a surgery session to respond to user needs and questions.

This is one of a series of events organised by ESDS in support of the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. These events are designed for researchers who are not current users of these ESRC-funded data resources, and who wish to apply for grants under this Initiative. It is not suitable for students.

The course is free to attend, but booking is essential. See details and booking form at the link below:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3060

EU researchers invited to apply for Data without Boundaries access to Secure Data Service

The Secure Data Service is a lead partner in the EU-funded Data without Boundaries (DwB) project. As part of this project, academic researchers within Europe are invited to apply for access to highly detailed social survey, census and business microdata from similar services in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and France (known as 'Research Data Centres').

This is a unique opportunity for researchers to receive specialist support and reimbursement of costs to conduct comparative research across borders.

Researchers should apply to conduct research at Research Data Centres (RDCs) not in the country of their residence. Therefore, researchers applying to access the Secure Data Service under the DwB project should not be resident in the UK.

Datasets available from the Secure Data Service are listed in the Data Library.

To apply, qualified researchers should visit the Data Access section of the DwB website for more information about the other RDCs involved and how to apply. Researchers approved under DwB to use data from the Secure Data Service will be contacted with details of the additional steps necessary to be approved to use the Service.

Access to the data will ordinarily be onsite at the Secure Data Service, located on the campus of the University of Essex. Researchers will be required to attend a half-day training session before being issued with a member logon, however the training session can be incorporated into the onsite visit to conduct research.

About the Data without Boundaries project
How to apply for Data without Boundaries access
Secure Data Service data library

New ESDS searchable interface opens library of case studies

Looking for ideas for how to use ESDS data?

Every day, data from the Economic and Social Data Service are used in leading-edge research and in university courses throughout the UK and beyond. Now, a new interface makes it easy to search and browse a growing library of ESDS case studies at the click of a mouse – a benefit to researchers, teachers, and others looking for ideas and collaborators. Each case study demonstrates how the data are being used, along with links to related resources and articles.

There are currently 62 case studies in the growing library, including examples from teaching modules to published research to ideas for future research in key areas. Users can browse the library using a variety of filters – for example topic, data type, and course type and level.  In this way, researchers can quickly find case studies of published research that uses longitudinal datasets to study health-related issues. Similarly, university teachers can find examples of how qualitative data are used to teach statistical methods to undergraduate students. There’s also a search function that allows users to find case studies by keyword, author, date, or any other criteria. 

The searchable interface is a pioneering project powered by Simile Exhibit, an open source application using semantic web technology. The interface includes a link to encourage users to share their feedback; comments will be used to improve both the case study interface and the application.

Searchable library of case studies

Simile Exhibit

Data Training Workshops supporting the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative

Introduction to the Millennium Cohort Study
7 December 2011, London
Full day, hands-on Booking open

Data, policy and practice: the potential of secondary data analysis
11 January 2012, Belfast
Half day Booking open

Introduction to the cohort studies theme, TBA
Date TBA, London or Scotland
Full day

Understanding Wales: Opportunities for Secondary Data Analysis
16 January 2012, Cardiff Booking open

Growing up In Scotland(GUS) Data workshop
17 January 2012, Stirling
Full day, hands-on Booking open

Introduction to Understanding Society
24 January 2012, London
Half day Bookings closed - may reopen if spaces become available

Webinar: Introducing ESDS data
TBC January 2012
Webinar, One hour

Introducing the European Social Survey and the International Social Survey Programme: Key resources for comparative research
TBA February 2012, London
Full day

Introduction to business microdata: Using the Secure Data Service
21 February 2012, Colchester
Half day Booking open

Introduction to business microdata: Using the Secure Data Service
28 February 2012, Scotland
Half day

Secondary analysis of qualitative data: Opportunities
TBA February or March 2012, Leeds or London
Half day

National Child Development Study (NCDS): Using mixed methods data
6 March 2012, London
Half day

Introducing the International Time Series databanks
14 March 2012, Manchester
Half day Booking open

Introduction to ESDS - opportunities for researching the labour market
21 March 2012, Sheffield
Full day Booking open

Introducing ESDS data: Researching Housing and the Local Environment
26 March 2012, London
Full day

Immigration Statistics July-Sept 2011

The Home Office has published Immigration Statistics July – September 2011. This release provides the latest provisional figures on those subject to immigration control, for the period up to the end of September 2011 and is available from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-q3-2011/

 The release includes a number of new developments that are detailed on the Summary page http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-q3-2011/immigration-q3-summary 

If you have any questions or comments about this release, please send an email to MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk 

Also released today are migration- and population–related data from Office for National Statistics, Department for Work and Pensions and National Records of Scotland, all of which can be accessed from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html