Adaptations to a cohort study in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from Growing Up in Ireland
Search for other papers by Lisa Kelly in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Aisling Murray in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Amanda Quail in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Eoin McNamara in
Current site
Google Scholar
Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and young people in the Republic of Ireland and has followed two cohorts for over ten years to date: Cohort ’98 who were recruited into the study at age nine years and Cohort ’08, recruited at age nine months. The study aims to describe the lives of Irish children and young people in terms of their development, with a view to positively affecting policies and services available for them. Traditionally, data collection involved in-home visits from an interviewer who conducted face-to-face interviews, recorded physical measurements of study participants and administered cognitive assessments. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions, significant adaptations were required to these methods to ensure data collection for the pilot and main fieldwork for Cohort ’08 at age 13 could continue to the expected timeline. Face-to-face interviews with participants were replaced with telephone and web-based modes, interviewer training was conducted online, online resources were made available for interviewers and participants and COVID-19 related items were added to questionnaires. In addition to the scheduled data collection, a special COVID-19 survey was also conducted on both GUI cohorts in December 2020 to explore the impact of the pandemic on participants’ lives. This paper outlines the adaptations made to traditional data collection methods in GUI, highlighting the challenges that were met, but also the benefits of some changes that may be worth incorporating into future waves of GUI.
-
Bowling, A. (2005) Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effects on data quality, Journal of Public Health, 27(3): 281–91. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdi031
-
Brener, N.D., Billy, J.O.G. and Gray, W.R. (2003) Assessment of factors predicting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: evidence from the scientific literature, Journal of Adolescent Health, 33(6): 436–57. doi: 10.1016/S1054-139X(03)00052-1
-
Bronfenbrenner, U. and Morris, P. (2006) ‘The bioecological model of human development’. In R.M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793-828). New York: Wiley.
-
Brown, M., Goodman, A., Peters, A., Ploubidis, G.B., Sanchez, A., Silverwood, R. and Smith, K. (2021) COVID-19 Survey in Five National Longitudinal Studies: Waves 1, 2 and 3 User Guide (Version 3), London: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/UCL-Cohorts-COVID-19-Survey-user-guide.pdf (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Elder, G.H. Jr and Giele, J.Z. (2009) Life course studies – an evolving field, in G.H. Elder Jr and J.Z. Giele (eds) The Craft of Life Course Research, New York: Guilford Press, pp 1–24.
-
Galesic, M. (2006) Dropouts on the web: effects of interest and burden experienced during an online survey, Journal of Official Statistics, 22(2): 313–28.
-
Growing Up in Ireland Study Team (2021) Key Findings: Special COVID-19 Survey, 26 March, Dublin: ESRI/DCEDIY/TCD, https://www.esri.ie/publications/growing-up-in-ireland-key-findings-from-the-special-covid-19-survey-of-cohorts-98-and (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Hodge, J.M., Shah, R., McCullough, M.L., Gapstur, S.M. and Patel, A.V. (2020) Validation of self-reported height and weight in a large, nationwide cohort of U.S. adults, PLoS ONE, 15(4): art e0231229, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231229, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Kelly, L., Ryan, B., Gallagher, R. and Quail, A. (2021) Growing Up in Ireland: A Summary Guide of the COVID-19 Web Survey for Cohorts ’08 and ’98, Dublin: ESRI/DCEDIY/TCD, https://www.ucd.ie/issda/t4media/0075-00_Summary%20Guide%20COVID%20Survey.pdf, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
McEachan, R.R.C., Dickerson, J. et al. (2020) The Born in Bradford COVID-19 Research Study: protocol for an adaptive mixed methods research study to gather actionable intelligence on the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities amongst families living in Bradford [version 1; peer review: 3 approved], Wellcome Open Research, 5: art 191, https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-191/v1, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022). doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16129.1
-
McNamara, E., Murray, A. and Williams, J. (2019) Growing Up in Ireland, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 10(4): 531–46. doi: 10.1332/175795919X15699445254797
-
McNamara, E., O’Mahony, D. and Murray, A. (2020) Growing Up in Ireland: Design, Instrumentation and Procedures for Cohort ’08 of Growing Up in Ireland at 9 Years Old (Wave 5), Technical Series No. 2020-1, Dublin: ESRI/TCD/DCYA, https://www.growingup.ie/pubs/Cohort08at9-Design-Report-2020-1.pdf, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Merrill, R.M. and Richardson, J.S. (2009) Validity of self-reported height, weight, and body mass index: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2006, Preventing Chronic Disease, 6(4): art A121, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774635/, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Northstone, K., Smith, D., Bowring, C., Wells, N., Crawford, M., Haworth, S. and Timpson, N.J. (2020) The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children – a resource for COVID-19 research: questionnaire data capture May–July 2020, Wellcome Open Research, 5: art 210, doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16225.2, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022).
-
Ogan, C., Karakuş, T. and Kurşun, E. (2013) Methodological issues in a survey of children’s online risk-taking and other behaviours in Europe, Journal of Children and Media, 7(1): 133–50. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2012.739812
-
Olfert, M.D., Barr, M.L., Charlier, C.M., Famodu, O.A., Zhou, W., Mathews, A.E., Byrd-Bredbenner, C. and Colby, S.E. (2018) Self-reported vs. measured height, weight, and BMI in young adults, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(10): art 2216, https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/10/2216, (Accessed: 27 Aug 2022). doi: 10.3390/ijerph15102216
-
Perumal, V., Curran, T. and Hunter, M. (2020) First case of COVID-19 in Ireland, The Ulster Medical Journal, 89(2): 128.
-
Tourangeau, R. and Smith, T.W. (1996) Asking sensitive questions: the impact of data collection mode, question format, and question context, Public Opinion Quarterly, 60(2): 275–304. doi: 10.1086/297751
-
Zhang, X., Kuchinke, L., Woud, M.L., Velten, J. and Margraf, J. (2017) Survey method matters: online/offline questionnaires and face-to-face or telephone interviews differ, Computers in Human Behavior, 71: 172–80. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.006
Search for other papers by Lisa Kelly in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Aisling Murray in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Amanda Quail in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Eoin McNamara in
Current site
Google Scholar
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 4019 | 3430 | 0 |
| Full Text Views | 1389 | 1309 | 22 |
| PDF Downloads | 363 | 282 | 5 |
Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk