LSAC technical papers

Event history calendar [PDF, 627 kB]
Technical Paper No. 31, April 2024
This paper by Jennifer Prattley, Neha Swami, Paul Hockey, Kristen Power, Bosco Rowland and Lisa Mundy provides information about the event history calendar data collected in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). These data capture the employment, study and residential history of LSAC respondents, referred to collectively as ‘life history data’ or ‘life episodes’.
Agreement between parent and child responses [PDF, 2.4 MB]
Technical Paper No. 30, August 2023
This paper by Jennifer Prattley, Pilar Rioseco, Amanda Vittiglia, Lisa Mundy and Bosco Rowland examines the concordance between parents’ and children’s responses in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). It provides evidence to inform analysis of LSAC items containing parent and child responses.
Evaluating mode effects in LSAC Wave 8 [PDF, 2 MB]
Technical Paper No. 29, August 2023
This paper by Neha Swami, Jennifer Prattley, Pilar Rioseco, Karlee O’Donnell, Amanda Vittiglia and Lisa Mundy examines differences in response patterns to wellbeing items asked in Wave 8 of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)
Combining linked data from NAPLAN and Medicare with LSAC survey data [PDF, 625 KB]
Technical Paper No. 28, June 2023
This paper by Jennifer Prattley and Karlee O’Donnell highlights the potential of LSAC to answer research questions using a combination of survey and linked administrative data, focussing on two databases linked to LSAC: Medicare and NAPLAN.
Wave 9C, Survey 2 Missing values in household income over time [PDF, 528 KB]
Technical Paper No. 27, May 2023
This paper by Kei Sakata, Neha Swami, Mabel Andalon, Diana Warren and Chris Schilling provides information about missing income data across Waves 1–7 and outlines strategies for using these variables.
Wave 9C, Survey 2 Weighting and non-response [PDF, 1 MB]
Technical Paper No. 26, June 2022
This paper by the Australian Bureau of Statistics LSAC processing team and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Survey Methodology team describes the process of calculating weights for Wave 9C, Survey 2 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, with a focus on the treatment of bias.
Wave 9C, Survey 1 Weighting and non-response [PDF, 767 KB]
Technical Paper No. 25, June 2021
This paper by the Australian Bureau of Statistics LSAC processing team and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Survey Methodology team describes the process of calculating weights for Wave 9C, Survey 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, with a focus on the treatment of bias.
Wave 8 Weighting and non-response [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Technical Paper No. 24, October 2020
This paper by the Australian Bureau of Statistics LSAC processing team and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Survey Methodology team describes the process of calculating weights for Wave 8 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, with a focus on the treatment of bias
Factors associated with non‑response in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Technical Paper No. 23, August 2020
This paper by Dinusha Bandara, Constantine Gasser, Karena Jessup, Jennifer Renda, Diana Warren and Galina Daraganova aims to guide researchers on LSAC non‑response rates and participation patterns.
Parent Living Elsewhere data [PDF 948 KB]
Technical Paper No. 22, December 2018
This paper by Jennifer Baxter provides information about the ‘Parent living elsewhere’ (PLE) data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). These data allow researchers to consider how the characteristics of both parents matter to the wellbeing of children, when children have parents who live apart. In LSAC, information about the PLE is collected from the PLE themselves and also form the study child’s primary carer. This report describes the derivation of useful data items related to the parent living elsewhere, with the aim of assisting LSAC data users in the analyses and interpretation of the PLE data and making these data more accessible.
Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) [PDF 1.5 MB]
Technical paper no. 21, December 2018
This technical paper by Dinusha Bandara, Mark Sipthorp, Fahim Sufi and Galina Daraganova describes the linkage process between the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data. The paper provides a description of the process of obtaining consent from LSAC respondents, the eligible LSAC sample for AEDC data linkage, the authorities involved in LSAC-AEDC data linkage, LSAC-AEDC data linkage and the matching process (which included five steps: data preparation, data standardisation, a linkage and matching process, AEDC data extraction and linkage of AEDC records), and the outcome of the LSAC-AEDC data linkage. Key characteristics of the LSAC-AEDC cohort are described and compared for the alignment of the LSAC-AEDC cohort to the national AEDC.
Wave 7 weighting and non-response [PDF 1.4 MB]
Technical paper no. 20, March 2018
This paper by Simon Usback, Australian Bureau of Statistics LSAC processing team and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Survey Methodology team details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 7 responding sample of Growing Up in Australia.
Executive functioning—Use of Cogstate measures in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 401 KB]
Technical paper no. 19, January 2017
This paper by Maggie Yu and Galina Daraganova aims to provide guidance to researchers on the executive functioning data in LSAC. With LSAC providing the major evidence base for understanding children's executive functioning in Australia, it is critical that researchers have a good understanding of, and confidence in, the executive functioning measures.
A longitudinal measure of socioeconomic position in LSAC [PDF 578 KB]
Technical paper no. 18, January 2017
This paper by Kalyca Baker, Mark Sipthorp and Ben Edwards provides a rationale for developing a new Socio-economic position (SEP) measure, comparison between SEP measures and recommendations on why and how a specific SEP measure should be used.
Using Australian Childhood Immunisation Register data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 825 KB]
Technical paper no. 17, July 2016
This paper by Jacqueline Homel and Ben Edwards provides data users with opportunities to use the demographic, social and health information available in LSAC to examine many different issues relating to immunisation and how to match LSAC data with Australian Childhood Immunisation Register.
Using My School data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 465 KB]
Technical paper no. 16, June 2016
This paper by Kalyca Baker, Brigit Maguire, Galina Daraganova and Mark Sipthorp describes the linkage process and the structure of the My School data linked to the LSAC data; explains how the data were confidentialised; describes the distribution of schools in the LSAC sample and outlines some considerations about the data that researchers using the My School data linked to the LSAC data file should be aware of.
Wave 6 Weighting and Non-Response [PDF 500 KB]
Technical paper no. 15, May 2015
This paper by Amanda Norton and Kevin Monahan serves two purposes: describing the response properties and quality of the sample continuing into Wave 6; and describing the method and implementation of weight calculations to assist analysts make accurate population inferences from the LSAC sample. The method of producing weights is unchanged from Wave 5; however, the response propensity models used to adjust the weights have been re-fit.
Imputing income in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 1.3 MB]
Technical paper no. 14, January 2015
This paper by Killian Mullan, Galina Daraganova and Kalyca Baker aims to impute missing income data for Parent 1 and Parent 2 using the approach developed for another longitudinal study - the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA).
The Times of Their Lives: Collecting time use data from children in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 1.5 MB]
Technical paper no. 13, November 2014
This paper by Joanne Corey, Jenny Gallagher, Elisabeth Davis and Michelle Marquardt reviews the time use diaries used in the study so far, including what information was collected and whether it was collected directly from the children or from their parents.
Parenting measures in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: construct validity and measurement quality, Waves 1 to 4 [PDF 980 KB]
Technical paper no. 12, April 2014
This paper by Stephen Zubrick, Nina Lucas, Elizabeth Westrupp and Jan Nicholson investigates the properties of the mother- and father-reported parenting measures used across Waves 1 to 4 for the B (baby) and K (kindergarten) cohorts of Growing Up in Australia.
Longitudinal analysis of LSAC time diary data: considerations for data users [PDF 550 KB]
Technical paper no. 11, March 2014
This paper by Killian Mullan focuses on time use diaries and provides a guide on how to use the data from the diaries, and how to get the most out of their longitudinal nature.
Wave 5 weighting & non response [PDF 1 MB]
Technical paper no. 10, March 2014
This paper by Benedict Cusack and Ryan Defina of the Australian Bureau of Statistics details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 5 responding sample of Growing Up in Australia.
Wave 4 weights [PDF 1 MB]
Technical paper no. 9, August 2011
This paper by Galina Daraganova and Mark Sipthorp details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 4 responding sample of Growing Up in Australia.
Using National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) [PDF 1.4 MB]
Technical paper no. 8, April 2013
This paper by Galina Daraganova, Ben Edwards and Mark Sipthorp describes how consent was obtained from parents, matching and linkage processes, sampling and bias issues, how NAPLAN data are stored in the LSAC data file, representativeness of data, and the extent to which NAPLAN data are correlated with the main cognitive and learning measures used in LSAC.
Validating Income in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children [PDF 1 MB]
Technical paper no. 7, October 2011
This paper by Killian Mullan and Gerry Redmond seeks to assess how the measure of income collected in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) compares with measures of income from two large-scale Australian surveys: the Survey of Income and Housing Costs (SIH) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
Wave 3 weighting and non-response [PDF 2.5 MB]
Technical paper no. 6, August 2009
This paper by Mark Sipthorp and Sebastian Misson details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 3 responding sample of Growing Up in Australia.
Wave 2 weighting and non-response [PDF 708 KB]
Technical paper no. 5, October 2007
This paper by Sebastian Misson and Mark Sipthorp details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 2 sample of Growing Up in Australia.
Children's time use in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: Data quality and analytical issues in the 4-year cohort [PDF 840 KB]
Technical paper no. 4, July 2007
This paper by Jennifer Baxter analyses the Wave 1 children's time use diaries for the 4-5 year cohort of Growing Up in Australia. The paper demonstrates some of the ways these time use data can be used, while primarily exploring the missing data in the diaries.
Wave 1 weighting and non-response [PDF 1.4 MB]
Technical paper no. 3, May 2006
This paper by Carol Soloff, David Lawrence, Sebastian Misson and Robert Johnstone details the methodology used to calculate the weights for the Wave 1 sample of Growing Up in Australia. This paper should be read in conjunction with Technical Paper No. 1 "Sample Design" which outlines full details of the sample design.
Summarising children's wellbeing: the LSAC Outcome Index [PDF 1.4 MB]
Technical paper no. 2, September 2005
This paper by Ann Sanson, Sebastian Misson and other members of the Outcome Index Working Group, describes the development of the Outcome Index for Wave 1 of Growing Up in Australia, and illustrates some of the ways in which it can be used to shed light on how well children are faring and how this relates to the conditions of their lives.
Sample design [PDF 627 KB]
Technical paper no. 1, May 2005
This paper by Carol Soloff, David Lawrence and Robert Johnstone, outlines the full details of the sample design for this cross-sequential study comprising two 12-month age cohorts (infants and children aged 4-5 years olds). The paper covers the sampling frame, sampling design, target population, postcode selection, and the selection of children.

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