Growing Up in Australia
Newsletter No. 27, Autumn 2010
Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, ISSN 1448-9147 (Online)
Wave 4
The main phase of data collection for Wave 4 began in March 2010. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will again conduct the fieldwork. Nearly 180 interviewers will conduct the interviews with the study families. In addition to interviews with the children and their main parent, any parents living apart from the child will be interviewed, the second parent and nominated main teachers of the study children will be given questionnaires to complete. More than 400 families were interviewed from August to November 2009, but most families will be interviewed between March to November this year.
Changes to Wave 4 include:
- The option for parents to do a 10-15 minute telephone interview during the initial phone call - and thereby reducing the amount of time needed for the home visit.
- The main parental carer will answer questions on a computer (Computer Assisted Self Interview or CASI) instead of completing a paper questionnaire.
- The older children (aged 10-11 years) will complete a CASI, child assessments and a time-use diary (which they will complete on the day before the home visit). During the home visit, the interviewer will talk with the child about their diary and enter the information into a computer. The child's blood pressure and body fat will also be measured (as well as their height and weight as in previous waves).
- The younger children (aged 6-7 years) will answer questions about how they like school and how they feel in general.
NAPLAN data
Most of the parents of the study children have given us permission to access their child's National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results. We are in the process of obtaining these from the relevant state/territory government agencies. These data, along with some statistical information about the school the child attends will be available later this year.
Upcoming conference
The 11th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference will be held on 7-9 th July in Melbourne. The program has been finalised, and includes a Growing Up in Australia symposium. Further details about the study's presence at the conference will be provided closer to the date.
Data user training
We are holding a data user training course on Tuesday 6 July 2010, the day prior to the 11th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference.
The focus of the training is to assist users of the data, those considering becoming users and those who are interested in learning more about the data, to gain confidence in understanding and navigating the datasets. The training covers a range of topics designed to give a comprehensive overview of the conduct of the study, its datasets and supporting documentation.
For further details on the workshop and how to register, please visit the Data User Workshop page.
Additional training can be held during the year, if there is significant demand. Please contact us to be placed on the waiting list.
Wave 3.5
In June 2009, Growing Up in Australia contacted study families with a short mail out questionnaire which provided opportunity to catch up with the families and capture new information about the children's lives. The questionnaire asked about children's media and technology use, their health and development and how they travel to and from school, the younger cohort's transition to school experiences, and parental involvement in learning for the older cohort.
Data from these questionnaires will be available in April 2010.
Wave 3
The Wave 3 data is available to researchers and policy makers. Prospective users of the data need to complete an application form and Deed of Licence under an individual licence or contact FaHCSIA regarding an organisational licence.
A full set of user documentation including an updated online data dictionary, user guide, weighting paper and marked up questionnaires is provided with the data and is available on the Growing Up in Australia website.
Wave 5 and beyond
A meeting with members of the Consortium Advisory Group was held in March to begin discussions about content for Wave 5. The older children will be entering adolescence and high school and therefore will be experiencing many changes in their lives which the study will need to capture. Thought will be given to alternative data collection modes to better capture the study children's development as they enter this critical period.
Life at 5
Following the successful screenings on ABC1 of Life at 1 and Life at 3, Growing Up in Australia is very pleased to be involved with the third installment in the series. Life at 5 is produced by Heiress Films and draws on the experience of Growing Up in Australia. Life at 5 follows the same 11 children and their families, observing their ordinary routines and milestones and looking at factors impacting on their lives such as their parents' relationship, finances, work, health and education.
It is expected that the Life at 5 series will be screened on ABC1 later this year.
Ongoing linkage of Medicare data
Medicare data offers a valuable source of supplementary health information for the study. We have ongoing consent for the duration of the study to access the medical histories of the study children.
Recent Publications
For information on recent publications, please visit the publications page of the Growing Up in Australia website.
Join the mailing list
If you would like to be contacted when new information on the study becomes available, please join the Growing Up in Australia mailing list, growingup-refgroup.
Find out more about the mailing list and sign up.
Contact us
If you would like further information about the Growing Up in Australia study, please explore our website at www.aifs.gov.au/growingup.
For our contact details or to send a message see the Contact page.