NCDS frequently asked questions

What is the main objective of the NCDS?

How often are people interviewed for the survey and who is interviewed?

What formats are the data available in?

Are the same questions asked in each wave?

Does the NCDS use standard coding schemes?

What is the most detailed regional level I can analyse the data at?

Before I order, how do I find out what questions/variables are included?

What is the file and variable naming convention?

What is the main objective of the NCDS?

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study which is seeking to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan.

The NCDS has gathered data from respondents on child development from birth to early adolescence, child care, medical care, health, physical statistics, school readiness, home environment, educational progress, parental involvement, cognitive and social growth, family relationships, economic activity, income, training and housing.

How often are people interviewed for the survey and who is interviewed?

To date there have been seven attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational and social development. The survey sweeps were carried out in 1965 (when members were aged 7 years), in 1969 (age 11), in 1974 (age 16), in 1981 (age 23), in 1991 (age 33), 1999-2000 (age 41-42) and 2004-2005 (age 46-47). There are also a number of other datasets associated with the main NCDS - see National Child Development Study datasets.

What formats are the data available in?

The data are available in SPSS, Stata, and ASCII tab-delimited formats. The data can be requested in other formats, such as SAS.

Are the same questions asked in each wave?

The questionnaires used for each NCDS sweep do not include a large number of repeated questions. This is because the NCDS is a cohort study rather than a panel study and focuses on the progress of the cohort members (CMs) over their whole lifecourse. For each sweep, the information collected is relevant to the development of the cohort at that time point - the information collected when the CMs are seven-years old is therefore different to that collected when the CMs are aged 33. Some questions are repeated, however. These generally relate to the CM's physical attributes, health status, employment status, family relationships, housing and education.

Does the NCDS use standard coding schemes?

The data for sweep 5 contain employment histories in which occupations are coded according to various standard schemas, including SOC, KOS, CODOT, Goldthorpe social class and Registrar General's social class. There are also standard educational assessment scores such as the Southgate Group Reading Score and the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide included in the data files for sweeps 1 to 3. Data for a number of standard health indicators have also been collected over the course of the NCDS; among them, Rutter et al's Malaise Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ).

What is the most detailed regional level I can analyse the data at?

For information on the availability of geographical variables for each of the major ESDS Longitudinal studies, see Geography variables.

Before I order, how do I find out what questions/variables are included?

Variable lists and PDF user guides (including questionnaires) are freely available from National Child Development Study datasets.

What is the file and variable naming convention?

There are no obvious naming conventions.