Characteristics of piloting longitudinal birth cohort surveys: a systematic review
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Characteristics of piloting longitudinal birth cohort surveys: a systematic review Mirta Blažev1 · Toni Babarović1 · Pau Serracant2 Accepted: 19 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of piloting approaches, systemize piloting processes, and underline good practices in large scale longitudinal birth cohort studies. We identified 54 eligible studies, and by applying predefined inclusion criteria, we included 10 studies in the systematic review. The main findings are that the longitudinal birth cohort surveys most often include all three types of pilots in every sweep—pre-test, instruments pilot and dress rehearsal. Sampling procedures and sample sizes in pilots vary a lot depending on the type and aims of a pilot, and from sweep to sweep. The reporting on piloting and its key findings is regularly present in longitudinal birth cohort studies, especially for instruments pilots and dress rehearsals, while it is less common for pre-tests. Based on the findings, the recommendations for other researchers are to adopt the same terms for different types of pilots—pre-pilots, instruments pilots and dress rehearsals, to extend and uniform reports on piloting, to report information about pilots’ response and attrition rates, and to dedicate a separate chapter to piloting in survey general technical report. Keywords Piloting · Pilot study · Longitudinal · Birth cohort
1 Introduction This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of piloting approaches and processes in large scale longitudinal birth cohort studies. The focus is put on birth cohort studies because of their complexity and essential need for piloting multiple waves due to developmental changes of children over time. Birth cohort studies follow many individuals born at a particular time through the course of their lives. The data are collected from multiple sources (at least from parents and their children) and a long follow-up enables addressing relevant scientific or policy-related questions. Birth cohort studies can focus on health,
* Toni Babarović [email protected] 1
Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Trg Marka Marulića 19, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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Sociology Department, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Catalan Youth Observatory (Catalan Youth Agency), 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
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education, family, employment or other issues and can provide information on how the events and circumstances in early childhood affect later life outcomes and achievements. Good piloting is essential for a high-quality main study and this should be emphasised in longitudinal birth cohort studies. However, regardless of its importance, reporting on the piloting procedures and piloting results is sometimes partial and incomplete, even in such large and complex studies. This paper attempts to systemize piloting approaches in birth cohort studies and to underline good practices. The first part of the paper provides a short definiti
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