Study design
The Children of the 2020s study sample has been drawn from HMRC Child Benefit records and includes parents with babies born in September, October, and November 2021. Approximately 8,500 families are being invited to take part.
The study is a five-wave longitudinal survey study of children from nine months to five years. Face-to-face data collection will take place when the cohort child is nine months old (Wave 1) and three years old (Wave 3). Non-face-to-face modes will be administered using a sequential mixed mode design with online and telephone surveys when children are aged two (Wave 2), four (Wave 4) and five (Wave 5).
Data collection will include assessments of child development, neighbourhood and family context, family structure, health and mental health, the home learning environment, and formal and informal childcare provision and preschool education. The study will include ongoing linkages to both parent and baby education and health records.
Alongside the main survey, the study will also include data collection using an innovative smartphone app called BabySteps. BabySteps will enable us to capture rich developmental and home environment measures between study waves at low cost. Measures will include a combination of short questionnaires and video/audio recordings.
In order to assess the effects of early education and care, the study will also include innovative data collection using Teacher Tapp app technology. A separate sub-study of early care settings may also be included. This would involve live observations of around 600 childcare providers at ages three to four and four to five.
High quality, cleaned, and fully weighted datasets, along with data documentation and guidance following each wave of data collection will be produced, alongside non-response analyses and details of the weighting system applied.
Who funds the study?
The Children of the 2020s study receives funding from the Department for Education.
Are you a parent?
If you’ve been contacted to take part in the Children of the 2020s study, please head to the study website at children2020s.ipsos.com to find out more about what’s involved.