Supervisors: Dr. Edurne Garcia Iriarte and Dr. Philip Curry
Working title of PhD: Strategies for identifying childhood disability and their consequences for measuring child outcomes over time: a mixed-method, multiple-case analysis of national birth cohort studies
Description of research: Research output drawing on data from longitudinal birth cohort studies has grown significantly over the past two decades. Questions around the prevalence and trajectory of childhood disabilities over time, and outcomes for children with disabilities, are amongst the varied issues which researchers have sought to explore with such data. However, child cohort studies are varied both in methodology and instrumentation, which in turn may influence the findings of research which draws on them. This proposed study will focus in particular on the options for disability definition and measurement in a subset of such studies. It will sensitivity test a variety of approaches through secondary research, to discern any possible patterns between these strategies and findings for outcomes of children with disabilities. Improved understanding of any possible relationships between measurement and outcomes can inform the choice of measures in future research.
Publications:
- Swift, A., Iriarte, E.G., Curry, P. et al. How Disability and Other Socio-Economic Factors Matter to Children’s Socio-Emotional Outcomes: Results from a Longitudinal Study Conducted in Ireland. Child Ind Res (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-020-09768-y
- Swift, A. (2019). Differences in Socio-Emotional Outcomes between Children with a Disability
and from a Migrant Background and their Typically Developing Peers. Growing Up in Ireland 11th Annual Research Conference, Dublin, Ireland.