Webinar

Comparative research initiatives are increasingly prominent components of health and social sciences, yet they require more specialised methods. This webinar recording discusses the challenges of cross-study comparative research and possible solutions.

Webinar recording and slides

This event took place on Wednesday 22 May 2024.

You can download a PDF of the Cross-cohort comparative analysis in the British cohort studies: opportunities and challenges webinar slides here.

About the event

This webinar recording focuses on conducting cross-study comparisons across time, in the British birth cohorts and other datasets.

The recording provides insights into the benefits and importance of conducting cross-study comparisons in the social and health sciences, offering guidance and suggestions on methodological issues and other considerations.

We briefly discuss the opportunities of cross-study comparison research, and emphasise key areas to consider including target populations, measurement, harmonisation and interpretation.

We suggest a checklist and outline a teaching resource to help researchers conduct cross-study comparative research more effectively.

The guidance offered applies when using any of the CLS cohorts or similar studies. The CLS cohorts include:

Webinar recording aims

  • Understand the opportunities and key challenges of comparative research, as well as possible solutions.
  • Facilitate a broader discussion of methodological issues and next steps in comparative research.
  • Outline a possible framework for conducting this type of research.
  • Introduce an open-access teaching resource that offers detailed instruction and reusable analytical syntax to guide newcomers on comparative analysis and data visualisation (in both R and Stata formats).

Who should watch?

This webinar is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students, early career researchers and governmental/third sector analysts interested in conducting cross-study comparative analysis in two or more cohort studies.

Presenters

David Bann is an Associate Professor in Population Health at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL, focusing on how health is distributed, its underlying causes, and how this knowledge can be used to enhance public health. His research spans health inequality, the epidemiology of obesity, mental health, physical activity, and both comparative and genetically informed research.

Liam Wright is a Lecturer in Statistics and Survey Methodology at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL. His work uses data from the British Birth Cohort Studies to look at two different topics: (1) methodological research (e.g., representativeness, coverage and survey mode effects); (2) applied work examining changes in the determinants of health and social inequalities across time. Liam’s research is multi-disciplinary, spanning genetics, health and social science research.

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