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Cohort 1982

Cohort 1982 is a stratified municipality and class selection where the majority of the students were born in 1982. The first collection was made in 6th grade in 1995 and consisted of tests and questionnaires.

Summary

The purpose of the comprehensive data surveys is to enable both longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys of large and representative student selections. The follow-up survey of this current sample began in the spring of 1992 when the pupils were in 3^rd grade of compulsory school. Until 5^th grade only school administration data was collected through Statistics Sweden. In the spring of 2008, when the majority of the students attended 6^th grade, the school administrative information was supplemented with information obtained directly from students, guardians and the teachers concerned.

The survey population consists of the pupils who attended 3rd grade of compulsory school in the spring term 1992. The population is, by definition delimited with regard to grade affiliation, which means that it includes pupils with different years of birth. The majority, or just over 96 per cent, were born in 1982. The final sample was 8,805 students. The number of students who answered all or parts of the questionnaire in 6^th grade is 7576, the parent survey 6595 and the teacher survey 933. The proportion who answered the student questionnaire is 86 percent and the parent questionnaire 75 percent.

In a couple of reports, some of the results from the various surveys are reported through descriptive tables and diagrams. Several of the questions contain sub-questions that may representing indicators of more elusive phenomena. These scored sub-questions may form the basis for scales, which provide a more reliable means of measuring a phenomenon than individual questions can do.

The next survey was given in the spring of 2001 when the majority of the cohort attended the last year of upper secondary school. The questionnaire was sent home to the students and a total of 5,436 responded with valid answers, which means that 62 percent of the original sample answered the questionnaire.

Basic information

year of birth
gender
migration background
educational background
socio-economic data

School administrative data

The school administrative data have been obtained from 3^rd grade onwards throughout the compulsory school period. A form is sent to the school the student attends and the school fills in information for each student included in the survey. Information is collected in 3^rd grade, initially sampling entire classes, but as students move over time, the form is sent to a growing number of schools, which are requested to complete information for individual students. This is done so that the students who were included from the beginning can be followed over the years up to adulthood. This information consists of:

municipality
school
school grade
age integrated or age diverse class
mother tongue
Swedish for immigrants
date when moving to another school
new municipality
new school
grades when given
national tests in Swedish, English and mathematics from 9^th grade

The collection in 6^th grade

Before the final questionnaires for students, parents and teachers were established, views were obtained from the UGU project's reference group consisting of representatives of the National Agency for Education, Swedish Council for Higher Education, Statistics Sweden and some research institutions. The forms were also reviewed by representatives of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities, the Student Organization in Sweden, the Association of School Leaders, the National Association of Home and School, the National Association of Teachers and the Swedish Teachers' Association.

Preparations

The implementation of a survey of this type presupposes both appropriate permits and the active participation of many people and organizations. Before the survey started, the teachers’ and school leaders' trade unions, the Swedish Home and School Association, the Student Organization in Sweden and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities were all informed, who all gave their support to the survey. Furthermore, an application was sent to the school boards in the municipalities concerned for permission to carry out the data collection from the students during lesson time. All municipalities except one were positive.

Due to the fact that many classes were divided and that individual pupils changed class or moved since 3^rd grade, when Statistics Sweden collected school administrative data for the first time, the pupils were spread over significantly more classes in 1995 than in 1992. At first, the number of classes was 579. Two years later the number had increased to 1152. Some of the students had also moved to other municipalities than the 35 that had been involved from the start. One problem was that the last available information about the students' class affiliation - which was obtained from Statistics Sweden's register - was from the end of the academic year 1993/94, when the students were usually in 5^th grade. It was the then current class designation that later formed the basis for the distribution of student and teacher forms. However, we expected that with the help of the class affiliation from 5^th grade, it would be relatively easy to identify the correct class in 6th grade, which also turned out to be the case.

For practical and economic reasons the quantity of survey material in question required data processing. Furthermore, since it is a longitudinal survey, the data stored on the electronic media must be identifiable. The survey material thus constitutes a personal register within the meaning of the Data Act. Before the investigation was started, the requisite permission was therefore obtained from the Data Inspectorate.

Materials for the schools

In January, a letter was sent from Statistics Sweden with prior information to the principals in the areas where there were students who were included in the survey. This letter was accompanied by a brochure about the project and a letter from the National Agency for Education, stating how significant the survey was considered to be. A list of the participating students, an information sheet for the teachers who would be involved and a special letter to the local Home and School associations were also attached. All letters can be found in Appendix 5.

The survey material was sent out from Statistics Sweden in week 12. The number of forms (Forms 1 and 2) with the associated answer envelope, which corresponded to the number of participating students, was sent to each class. The forms were labeled with the participating students' names, dates of birth and class numbers. Each class set was provided with a cover letter to the class teacher with instructions for the implementation of the data collection. Furthermore, the teacher received a list of the participating students, where notes were to be made about any absence, relocation, etc. The material was distributed via the principal. The letters sent to principals and teachers can be found in Appendix 6.

The forms were to be completed during the period March 27 to April 28. The time required was calculated at three work shifts. After filling in the forms, the students had to put these in the answer envelopes and seal them again. In order for the teacher to check that all forms were included, students were asked to write their names on the envelopes. The student forms were sent via the principal to the University of Gothenburg.

Each class teacher also received the special questionnaire he or she would answer. After answering, these were sent in reply envelopes directly to the University of Gothenburg.

The data collection in the schools seems to have been carried out without any major problems. Very few principals and teachers got in touch. The inquiries that came most often concerned how to proceed with students who have moved from the class. In these cases, we asked that the material be forwarded to the student's current school.

At the end of April, a letter of thanks was sent to all the principals concerned. The schools that did not submit material from all participating classes in mid-May received a reminder letter at this time. The mentioned letters can be found in Appendix 7. At the end of this month, forms from some schools were still missing, so these were contacted by telephone.

As the forms came in from the schools, the classes were marked off on a special list. In this so-called archive list there is, in addition to the student's name, class designation and population registration number, also a special code number, which is used in the data processing. For reasons of confidentiality, we do not use the population registration numbers as a source of identification in this process.

Material for the guardians

At the end of February, Statistics Sweden sent out the forms to the guardians. They were sent directly to the residential addresses. Each form was accompanied by a stamped reply envelope and a cover letter (Appendix 8). The letter provided information on the structure and purpose of the survey. Furthermore, we justified why, in a study of this type, it was important to get views from the students' guardians as well. Finally, we informed that all information provided was confidential and that the Data Inspectorate had given its permission for the investigation. The questionnaire to the parents is sent out approximately one month before the collection of the student surveys. In this way, the requirements for information set by the Data Protection Act were met.

A few dozen parents contacted Statistics Sweden or the University of Gothenburg. Most wanted more information about the survey. A few expressed their wishes that their children should not participate, which were of course taken into account.

One week after the mailing, a letter of thanks and reminder was sent and a few weeks later another reminder.

More about the survey can be read in a message from Statistics Sweden under the heading reports.

Cognitive tests

The Cognitive tests are intelligence tests containing tasks of a verbal, inductive and spatial nature. These have been given at each collection in 6^th grade and began with the evaluation in 1961. The three subtests and how they were developed are described in Svensson, A. (1964) (pdf downloadable from GUPEA, in Swedish).

Antonyms: To choose the opposite of a particular keyword among four options
Sheet metal folding: To work out which of the four figures you get, if you fold a pictured “sheet metal piece”
Number series: To continue a number series, where six numbers are given, with two more numbers

More about the cognitive tests can be read in:

Relative achievement: school performance in relation to intelligence, sex and home environment (pdf downloadable from GUPEA)

Knowledge test

As in the spring of 1990, a mathematics test was given. However, this has been heavily reworked. The reason for this is that the tasks in the previously used sample proved to be somewhat too simple, which resulted in a relatively small distribution.

The new tasks were constructed by Bengt-Olof Ljung at the Department of Education, University of Teacher Education in Stockholm. They were tested in the spring of 1994 at schools in Trollhättan and Stenungsund. After the tests, some adjustments were made and the new sample consisted of 20 tasks, of which only four were taken from the previous sample.

Questionnaire for students

Five questions (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) concern the students' general perception of their ability to acquire knowledge and skills in different areas of knowledge and their interest in these areas. The questions also concern the students' perception of their ability to cope with certain specific tasks in Swedish, English and mathematics.
One question (6) is about how often certain working methods occur in the class
Two questions (7 and 11 in the second part of the form) are about how students feel in different school situations and an open question "Why do all children in Sweden go to school?"
Six questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the second part of the form) are about hobbies
One question (10 in the second part of the form) concerns future career plans
Three questions (7, 8 and 9 in the second part of the form) concern attitudes to homework and how often the student receives help with schoolwork

The exact wording of the questions can be found in the questionnaire for the students (pdf in Swedish).

Questionnaire to the guardians

The form given in 1995 included 16 questions.

Three questions (1, 2 and 3) concern the student's growing up conditions
Three questions (4, 5 and 6) concern the parents' education and profession
Two questions (7 and 8) are about the parents' attitude to quarterly conversations and parent meetings
Four questions (9, 10, 12 and 13) are about the parents' perceptions of the requirements set by the school, the quality of the school and the information they receive from the school.
One question (11) is about the students' information to the parents about the school
One question (14) concerns whether the parents intend to choose a school other than the one closest to home.
Two open-ended questions (15 and 16) give parents the opportunity to describe what has been most positive and negative during 4^th to 6^th grade

The exact wording of the questions can be found in the questionnaire for the parents (pdf 1 MB in Swedish).

Questionnaire for teachers

With previous cohorts, no questions have been asked of the teachers, but in order to get as complete a picture as possible of the student's school situation, we considered it valuable to also receive information from the teachers. Therefore, a teacher questionnaire was prepared, the final version of which consisted of 16 questions.

Six questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) concern certain facts about the teacher
Two questions (7 and 8) concern the size and composition of the class
Three questions (9, 10 and 11) are about the teacher's assessments of the class' level of knowledge and the relationship between the students
One question (12) is about the school's resources
One question (13) concerns working methods for students' knowledge development
One question (14) concerns the parents' participation in school work
Two questions (15 and 16) concern the existence of evaluations

The exact wording of the questions can be found in the questionnaire for teachers (pdf 1 MB in Swedish).

The collection in upper secondary school 3^_rd grade

The collection was handled by Statistics Sweden in Örebro and was designed as a paper questionnaire. The questionnaire together with a cover letter and reply envelope was sent to those who remained in the survey at this time. A total of 8465 people were invited to answer the survey. Reminder letters were sent to those who had not yet answered the questionnaire after a couple of weeks and two more reminder letters expired.

A total of 5,436 submitted valid answers, which means that 62 percent of the original sample answered the survey. Even if the drop-out rate is quite extensive, there are still good opportunities to clarify how the drop-outs affect the results due to the fact that there is information from previous collections about those who did not answer the upper secondary school questionnaire.

Results from the data collection are described in a work report, see under the heading reports.

Questionnaire for students

The final survey included 51 questions and aimed to provide information on:

views on the education received after a couple of years in compulsory school
which upper secondary education has been chosen and which factors have guided this choice
any study interruptions and the reasons for these
well-being in high school
views on upper secondary education
perceptions of one's own ability in various subjects
scope of gainful employment in addition to the studies
how much time was spent on different hobbies
plans for future education and profession

The exact wording of the questions can be found in the questionnaire for the students (pdf 1 MB in Swedish).

Codebook

The number of variables for each cohort varies from a few hundred to a couple of thousand. Some variables are present in all cohorts, others are only found in some. Some variables enable longitudinal studies, others only cross-sectional studies. UGU has developed an interactive list of variables to make it easier to search among the variables and see relationships between variables in different cohorts.

The variables are accessed through the links below. Questions about documentation are answered via e-mail to data controllers within UGU.

Codebook for cohort born 1982

Selection principles

In contrast to the three previous multi-stage selections, a preliminary selection was made this time based on the students who went to 2^nd grade in the academic year 1990/1991. The municipalities were grouped according to population into six strata. Stratum one consists of the five largest municipalities and from the other five strata a number of municipalities were drawn. From each municipality that is included, so many classes were then sampled that the students in the sample corresponded to the strata's share in the population. A total of 35 municipalities and 595 classes were elected. The final selection was then based on the students found in 3^rd grade in the selected classes.