Evaluation Through Follow-up
The Evaluation Through Follow-up (UGU) is a large cohort-sequential research study which is used for evaluation and research about schools and education in Sweden.
UGU stands for Utvärdering Genom Uppföljning ("Evaluation Through Follow-up" in english) and is one of the largest study in Sweden in the field of education, the country's largest survey of schools. As part of the national evaluation of the school system, our study contributes with nationally representative data that can be linked to other databases. The study contains nationally representative samples of students from eleven cohorts, born between 1948 and 2010. The special thing about UGU is the longitudinal design where individuals from these cohorts are followed through the education system. The design makes it possible to both follow students through the education system and to compare cohorts from different times.
The upper secondary school survey follows up on the cohort with students born 2004 and who has previously received surveys in year 6 and 9 in primary school and in their first year of upper secondary school concerning the covid19-pandemic. About 1900 students choose to fill in the survey. The survey has been answered by the student-sample during the spring of 2023. More info regarding for example how the data looks or what questions were asked can be found here and in our codebook for cohort 2004.
The students in the selection answer questions about their health, their interests, working methods in school and their personal development in various subjects. Similar questionnaires are also answered by teachers and guardians and all are collected every three years. Our most recent collection was last year and contained data from students born in 2010, their guardians and teachers. The data is then used by researchers in economics, psychology, pedagogy and political science to investigate developments in Swedish education and the labormarket.
We will hold an interactive and introductory hour (9-10 am) on September 19 on Zoom where you as doctoral students, researchers and master's students will learn more about how we collect our data.
For more information about which questions are included in our surveys, you can read more in our codebooks: https://www.gu.se/en/evaluation-through-follow-up-etf/codebooks
For inspiration from previous studies that have used UGU data, you can visit the link with our publications: https://www.gu.se/en/evaluation-through-follow-up/publicationsPlease
Do not hesitate to contact me with a return email for access to the link. The language is in English.
More information for those who are included in the selection can be found under the following link:
Principals with classes in the sample
Teachers with students in the sample
Parents with children in the sample
Information clips for students
Thank you for contributing to the research on Swedish schools!
In educational research, one is often content to collect information about students and their education at a single point in time, such as year 6 or year 9. The longitudinal design is especially useful for those who wonder why different students take different paths through the education system or whether it matters which path you take for how it goes later in life. UGU is unique in an international perspective as these longitudinal studies follow so many individuals for such a long time. Even fewer studies follow more than one cohort. For each cohort, administrative data, questionnaires and various measures of students' study conditions and educational results are collected. Since similar data has been collected in each cohort, it is possible to compare students who grew up and went to school during different time periods. It is useful information in discussions about how school reforms or societal changes affect students' educational careers. UGU thus enables both longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys of large and nationally representative student samples.