The impact of attrition and non-response in birth cohort studies: a need to incorporate missingness strategies

Authors

  • Tarek Mostafa University of London – Institute of Education
  • Richard Wiggins University of London – Institute of Education

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v6i2.312

Keywords:

BCS70, attrition, unit non-response, item non-response, weights, imputation.

Abstract

This paper reveals the extent of attrition in the British Cohort Study begun in 1970 (BCS70) and how it affects sample composition over time. We examine the determinants of response and then construct inverse probability weights (IPWs) to adjust for sample loss. Secondly, we create a hypothetical substantive data set from BCS70 across data collection waves 3 and 4 to illustrate the effectiveness of the use of weights and multiple imputations (MI) in handling the impact of unit non-response and item missingness respectively. Our findings show that when the predictive power of the response models is weak, the efficacy of non-response weights is undermined. Further, multiple imputations are effective in reducing the bias resulting from item missingness when the magnitude of the bias is high and the imputation models are well specified.

Author Biographies

Tarek Mostafa, University of London – Institute of Education

Research Officer

University of London – Institute of Education
Department of Quantitative Social Science
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
20 Bedford Way, London, WCIH 0AL.
England – UK.

Richard Wiggins, University of London – Institute of Education

Professor

University of London – Institute of Education
Department of Quantitative Social Science
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
20 Bedford Way, London, WCIH 0AL.
England – UK.

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Published

2015-03-07

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2015): Generation X enters middle age

Section

Papers

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