Journal article
Measuring educational attainment in longitudinal research: challenges and recommendations
J Love, SK Bennetts, D Berthelsen, NJ Hackworth, EM Westrupp, FK Mensah, JM Nicholson
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY | ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD | Published : 2020
Abstract
Demographic data, such as highest level of education attained, are often assumed to be relatively free from measurement error. As part of an evaluation of an early childhood parenting intervention, 654 parents reported their highest level of education via telephone interview at baseline and self-directed questionnaire at follow-up 5.7 years later. At follow-up, 14% reported a lower level of education compared to baseline, indicating measurement error in one of the data collections. Comparison with data collected by an external agency for a subsample of participants (n = 261) 3.2 years after baseline indicated error in both the baseline and follow-up data. Probable causes of error included re..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Awarded by NHMRC
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council [GNT1076857] and the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training. JL, SB, NH, EW and JN were supported by the Roberta Holmes Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program at La Trobe University. FM was supported by a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship [CDF 1111160]. Research staff at MCRI are supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.