Handling missing data in the 1970 British Cohort Study

Missing data are common in longitudinal surveys, particularly due to attrition over waves of data collection, and can lead to substantial bias. Principled methods of missing data handling are usually required to obtain unbiased estimates in such settings. This webinar is primarily aimed at users of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), though may be of interest to users of other longitudinal surveys.

In this webinar, the speakers will briefly cover the relevant missing data theory before discussing missing data methods and their application. There will be a particular emphasis on why and how variables other than those required for the analysis should be included in missing data handling.

They will present findings from their recent work in BCS70 and provide guidance for how users of data from this study can handle missing data in their own analyses, and demonstrate that with careful analysis, it is possible to largely restore sample representativeness despite the presence of selective attrition.

Speakers

• Michalis Katsoulis, Associate Professor in Biomedical Statistics at the MRC unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing.
• Richard Silverwood, Associate Professor of Statistics and Chief Statistician at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL

This online webinar will be followed by a Q&A, with a recording published on the CLS YouTube channel after the event.

This online event will be particularly useful for researchers who are already using the 1970 British Cohort Study.

Related links

• Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS)
• UCL Social Research Institute