Core E - External Research Resources Support Core

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

EXTERNAL RESEARCH RESOURCES SUPPORT CORE (CORE E): REVISED PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT CIDMA addresses CHABLIS’s Theme IV (Measurement and Methods). It will identify, design, conduct and assess innovations in data collection and measurement, referred to as rapid assessments (RAs), for use in current and future data-focused studies of aging. RAs will be implemented in three areas for innovation (AFIs) that have been the focus of the current grant: (1) assessing alternative measures of health outcomes and behaviors, cognition, and cognitive functioning for implementation in field and clinical studies; (2) improving recruitment and retention of participants in LSAs; (3) supplementing survey and administrative data in existing LSAs, such as residential histories and contextual data from existing commercial and public databases as well as innovative ways of collecting retrospective information about earlier life health conditions and events. In addition, we will seek to develop additional RAs in a new AFI: (4) improving training, retention and skills of LSAs field staff and data collection professionals. All these Areas reflect challenges confronting data collection and measurement in research on aging. The RAs conducted by CIDMA will be 1- to 2-year projects, mostly 1-year, from design to dissemination of findings. These RAs will be focused on developing measures and methods that are cost-effective and that can be implemented in a range of settings, especially those “in the field” for population-based studies. CIDMA will work collaboratively on these tasks, drawing on both their expertise and experiences in data collection in studies of aging. This Core also will disseminate and educate the research community on its findings. As discussed in Core C, CHABLIS will maintain an on-going dissemination effort of findings from CIDMA and support the CIDMA Institute, to foster a dialogue between researchers and survey operations professionals and on these and other innovations in data collection and measurement for existing and future studies. Finally, as discussed in Core C, this Core will continue to host the CIDMA Institute annually as a forum for the presentation and discussion of such innovations with special focus on junior and emerging researchers with interests and work on data collection and measurement. This aspect of the Core is vital if we are to help train and educate the next generation of researchers and data collection professionals in the conduct of longitudinal studies of aging, and to make certain that their ideas for innovation are readily incorporated into the field.