1. My experience: using a large birth cohort Simone Croft Psychology Department

2. Jewels in the ESRC crown National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) National Child Development Study (NCDS) 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) Address health and social policy questions Scientific interests Life course approach, birth -> grave Over 2,500 studies worldwide using the 4 studies

3. Other big/secondary data sources The UK Data Archive – Over 6,000 digital data collections – UK and international usage

4. My PhD experience The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) – Address economic, health and social questions – Over 19,000 families across the UK (incl. N Ireland) – Mother and father influence; wider social ecology – Data collection at 9 months, 3, 5, 7 & 11 years – Quantitative and qualitative data available Longitudinal data analysis of mother and child measures

5. Finding your measures Planning, precision and perseverance

6. Limitations Datasets publicly available – duplication Volume of data – overwhelming, time- consuming, training required. High quantity, low quality Missing data (sampling weights – attrition & non-response) Lack of autonomy in questions (consultation) Discontinued measures

7. Strengths Size of dataset – scope for ‘big’ studies & sophisticated analysis (high academic impact!) Study the life course – from birth to 69 years Access & linking to external records Qualitative / genetic data available Support & guidance on using datasets Cultural/regional comparisons Future of big data & employability

8. Tips for staying afloat Make the data your own – clean and check your data meticulously – label variables to make sense to you Data management tools – use specialist software to extract and merge your data e.g., SPSS syntax Help, support & guidance – supervisors, online support, training

9. Help from the University Sheffield Methods Institute MASH: Maths and Statistics Help Advanced quantitative methods training – SPSS Syntax; longitudinal/panel data analysis; multilevel modelling; SEM using Mplus. WRDTC - http://www.wrdtc.ac.uk/training/http://www.wrdtc.ac.uk/training/ ESRC – National Centre Research Methods – Qual & quant training across the UK http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/ http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/ Advanced Quantitative Methods Network – https://aqmn.wordpress.com/

10. When you’ve finished… Reward yourself!