Current and Past Activities

Past activities

Wave One (2002-3)

• The research team began designing the survey questionnaire in January 2001.
• The questionnaires and methodology was tested during two pilots in August and November 2001.
• The main interviews took place between March 2002 and March 2003.
• Data from the interviews was organised and analysed, and the findings were launched in December 2003.

Wave Two (2004-5)

• This second stage of the study went through many of the same testing and development procedures as Wave One.
• Wave Two also introduced a visit by a qualified nurse to take some measurements from ELSA members. The ELSA team used measures from the studies on ageing being conducted in the US and in Europe so that international comparisons could be made in the future. Work on developing this visit began at the same time as work to update the interviewer questionnaire.
• Interviewers and nurses were in the field collecting data between June 2004 and July 2005.
• In July 2005, we held two meetings with small groups of ELSA respondents, one in London and one in Leeds, to ask about respondents’ experiences and views of the study. These meetings produced lots of positive feedback.
• The findings from Wave Two were launched in July 2006.

Wave Three (2006-7)

• Again, Wave 3 contained many elements familiar from earlier stages; however, a number of new procedures were brought in. There was no nurse visit, but additional paper questionnaires were introduced and we developed computerised questions on dental health.
• Interviews began in May 2006, and continued until August 2007.
• Development for a new element for ELSA, the Life History Interview, began in March 2005. Pilots for this interview were carried out in September 2005, September 2006 and November 2006 and the main interview was launched in March 2007. In this interview, respondents were asked about important events from childhood and throughout their lives, which enabled us to find out the effect earlier experiences have on people’s circumstances as they grow older.
• The Wave Three report was launched in July 2008.

Wave Four (2008-9)

• At Wave Four, the nurse visit was reintroduced. The content was very similar to the one from wave two. The main reason for collecting the same data as before is that we want to look at changes in people’s functioning and measurements over time. However, we did carry out some new analyses on the blood samples we took at wave four: IGF-1 and DHEAS. These are hormones that help control reactions to stress and regulate various body processes including digestion, the immune system, mood and energy usage.
• Interviews were conducted between May 2008 and July 2009.
• New topics at this wave included volunteering, providing care for others, house improvements, television and sleep.
• The Wave Four report was launched in October 2010.

Wave Five (2010-11)

• At Wave Five we added questions on your religion, well-being, personality, pets, and cancer screening.
• We also asked selected respondents to take part in some tasks designed to explore their attitudes to money and their level of risk taking when making decisions about money.
• The interviews for this stage were carried out between June 2010 and June 2011.
• We will be launching the report from Wave Five in Summer 2012.

Current activities

• We are already making plans about new questions and measures to include in Wave Six. We carried out a pilot of some new questions on social care, sexual relationships and problem solving tasks in June 2011. We will be testing these questions further as well as other new questions in November 2011. We will be dropping some questions like the animal naming task to make space for these new questions.
• We will be carrying out nurse visits again this wave. The content will be similar to those of previous waves although we hope to make a few improvements and additions which we will test in the pilot study in November 2011.
• We will be carrying out the main interviews and nurse visits for Wave Six between May 2012 and Summer 2013.
• We will also begin applying for funding for Waves Seven and Eight in 2012.

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Study timetable

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