What social connections and support are available to families and children, and what impact do they have on individual outcomes? How do the impacts of these social connections and support change over time? What are the impacts of neighbourhood characteristics and community connectedness, engagement, trust and violence on individual outcomes, and how do these impacts change over time? What is the impact of intergenerational characteristics on individual outcomes, and how does this impact change over time? Study respondents Study informants include the child (from the age of six), parents (both resident and non-resident), carers and teachers. Information from these participants is collected every two years using a range of methodologies. These include a face-to face interview and self-report by the child and one parent. The methodologies are reviewed for each collection to ensure that they protect the privacy of participants, respond to improvements in technology and reflect the increased capacity of the children to answer questions themselves. As children do more activities away from their parents, they report more information and the parent reports less; thus, the children are gradually becoming the primary respondents of the study. Mid-wave data collection Following the first three waves of the study, abridged data collection was also conducted in the years between the biennial primary data collections (Wave 1.5, Wave 2.5 and Wave 3.5). These collections comprised short paper ‘mid-wave’ questionnaires on a limited range of topics. A key purpose of the LSAC mid-wave activities is to maintain contact and engagement with the study participants. The activities—mail-out questionnaires to the primary parent (P1)—are also an opportunity to collect information on topics relevant to the developmental stage of the study children, However, response rates for these surveys were significantly lower than those of the main wave collections, and their continuing decline necessitated a review of this collection strategy. Table 1 provides details of the number of questionnaires sent and returned for each collection and illustrates the decline in mid-wave response rates over time.
What social connections and support are available to families and children, and what impact do they have on individual outcomes? How do the impacts of these social connections and support change over time? What are the impacts of neighbourhood characteristics and community connectedness, engagement, trust and violence on individual outcomes, and how do these impacts change over time? What is the impact of intergenerational characteristics on individual outcomes, and how does this impact change over time? Study respondents Study informants include the child (from the age of six), parents (both resident and non-resident), carers and teachers. Information from these participants is collected every two years using a range of methodologies. These include a face-to face interview and self-report by the child and one parent. The methodologies are reviewed for each collection to ensure that they protect the privacy of participants, respond to improvements in technology and reflect the increased capacity of the children to answer questions themselves. As children do more activities away from their parents, they report more information and the parent reports less; thus, the children are gradually becoming the primary respondents of the study. Mid-wave data collection Following the first three waves of the study, abridged data collection was also conducted in the years between the biennial primary data collections (Wave 1.5, Wave 2.5 and Wave 3.5). These ‘mid-wave’ collections comprised short paper questionnaires on a limited range of topics. A key purpose of the LSAC mid-wave activities is to maintain contact and engagement with the study participants. The activities—mail-out questionnaires to the primary parent (P1)—are also an opportunity to collect information on topics relevant to the developmental stage of the study children, However, response rates for these surveys were significantly lower than those of the main wave collections, and their continuing decline necessitated a review of this collection strategy. Table 1 provides details of the number of questionnaires sent and returned for each collection and illustrates the decline in mid-wave response rates over time.
the_longitudinal_study_of_australian_children_2011-12_annual_report.docx