Questionnaire

The face-to-face questionnaire is done in the person's own home at a time that is best for them. The information is collected by an experienced, trained interviewer from Ipsos MORI, who carries photo ID. Also, the local gardai will know that the study is ongoing their area.

TILDA aims to collect information on all the areas of people's lives in order to improve planning and policy. The interviewers collect information on living arrangements, children, education, sources of income and assets, physical and mental health, employment, lifelong learning, planning for retirement, care and social support. They record this information using a computer. The interview takes about 90 minutes to complete.

If there is a question or questions participants are not comfortable about answering, they can skip it. Obviously, the more answers participants can give us, the more useful the information will be.

Questions are asked about participants' income and assets and we hope that most participants understand that it's very important for our study to assess people's standard of living and what they can afford as they grow older. Therefore we need good information about people's financial situation. We fully realise that people can be sensitive about these issues. However, it is really important for our study to get good information about financial matters. Of course, answers to these questions are, like all the information given by participants, kept strictly confidential and are only used for research purposes. They will not be passed on in an identifiable way to any other organisation or individual.