Data in the spotlight: Longitudinal data

Did you know that longitudinal data from major social studies such as the British Birth Cohort Studies, Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing can be accessed for research?

The longitudinal studies are extremely rich data sources for high impact and policy relevant research. The British Birth Cohort Studies (e.g. the National Child Development Study 1958 and The Millennium Cohort Study) follow the same group of children born in a specific year throughout their lives, tracking changes and unravelling the reasons behind them. Understanding Society is an innovative and world-leading study about live and its changes in the UK in the 21st century. The real world impact of these studies continues to be substantial. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has created a defining moment for longitudinal research.

Longitudinal studies provide a unique opportunity to track both short and long term effects of the pandemic, alongside invaluable pre-pandemic measures of health and behaviour. Many longitudinal studies have added Covid-19 specific datasets and we will explore what some of these cover.

Most of the studies can be downloaded after a short registration. Subsamples of some of these datasets are also available for teaching purposes.

This free 90-minute online workshop will consist of a 30-minute presentation, followed by 20 minutes for questions, and an optional 40-minute hands-on practical. The presentation and hands-on are separate parts of the workshop and attending the hands-on is optional.

The workshop will include:

• an overview of the longitudinal studies available via the UK Data Service
• a tour on how to navigate our new website to search for longitudinal studies
• quiz and participant interaction
• updates and findings from Covid-19 datasets
• the key features of longitudinal surveys and the policy relevance (impact) of the information they contain
• how to access the data, undertake exploratory online analysis and get further help

Presenters: Beate Lichtwardt and James Rayner

Level: Introductory
Experience/knowledge required: None
Target audience: Researchers/anyone interested in longitudinal data

This event will be livestreamed on our UK Data Service YouTube channel but the chat will be disabled. By registering and attending the Zoom event you will be able to ask questions and interact.

Recordings of UK Data Service events are made available on our YouTube channel and, together with the slides, on our past events pages soon after the event has taken place.

This event is part of our UK Data Service introductory training series: Autumn 2023.