Study Governance
The Study Team works with a number of other bodies to ensure that the study is carried out to the highest possible standards:
Project Team and Steering Group
The Study Team reports to an inter-departmental Project Team which is chaired by Dr. Sinéad Hanafin of the Office of the Minister for Children and has representatives from the sponsoring Departments and also the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Project Team in turn reports to the Steering Group. This is chaired by Ms. Sylda Langford, Director of the Office of the Minister for Children. It also has representatives from the sponsoring departments and the CSO.
Scientific and Policy Advisory Committee
The study also receives input from the Scientific and Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC). This is a non-executive group that provide scientific and policy advice on the content and best practice of the design, implementation and roll-out of the study.
Its ten members have been selected from a very broad range of backgrounds in areas related to children and large-scale longitudinal national surveys – both substantive and technical.
Members were selected on the basis of their expertise in:
- policy and policy formulation as it impacts on children and families in Ireland
- the substantive area of childhood and research into issues relating to childhood and children
- technical and statistical areas of particular relevance to the operation of a complex longitudinal study comparable to Growing Up in Ireland
The Scientific and Policy Advisory Committee meets approximately five times per year and has the following Terms of Reference:
- to review and advise on protocols and procedures in the context of best international practice for large-scale longitudinal projects similar to Growing Up in Ireland.
- to advise on relevant policy and research issues as they relate to children and their families in the changing Ireland of the 21st century.
- to review and advise on draft questionnaires and other instruments to ensure that these reflect the policy and substantive issues identified as being of importance to the study.
- to review summary results and their interpretation (in policy and substantive terms) as they emerge from the study.
The Committee is chaired by the Co-directors of the Study Team with other members of the Study Team Management Group in attendance.
Children’s Advisory Forum
The Children’s Advisory Forum (CAF) is made up of 12 committees in schools across Ireland. Seven children sit on each committee. The purpose of the CAF is to provide a platform for children to meaningfully participate in all aspects of the research design and development of the study and to enhance the significance and relevance of the project. To find out more about the work of the CAF click here.
Dephi Process
A further layer of the consultation process involves the Delphi Process. This involves contacting a panel of relevant policy experts and service providers and asking for their feedback in relation to the issues which they see as important for the study to investigate.
A two-round Dephi process has been rolled out as part of the first wave of data collection from the nine-year-old cohort. A total of 75 experts were included in the panel for the first round, which received an 86 per cent response rate. All of the respondents to the first wave were included in the second wave of the study, which received a 90 per cent response rate.
Valuable information was collected from the panel which was used in developing the questionnaires for the nine-year-old cohort.
Ethics Board
The first wave of the nine-year cohort was conducted under ethical approval from the Health Research Board’s Research Ethics Committee. The current phases of the project are being ethically reviewed by a dedicated Research Ethics Committee, which has been independently established for the project by the Office of the Minister for Children. Ethical approval involves a rigorous review of each part of the study which has included international reports on the project’s design and content.
This process will ensure that every step possible is taken to safeguard the rights, safety and wellbeing of those who will participate in the study as well as the researchers.