Consortium Advisory Group (CAG) foreword

Prepared by Professor Stephen Zubrick, CAG Chair and Dr Helen Rogers, FaHCSIA.

In response to a request for tender from the Australian Government, the original proposal for the design, content and methods for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children came together during 2000-01 through the efforts of a group of scientists from research institutes and universities around Australia. These were the researchers that formed the Consortium Advisory Group when, on 5 October 2001, the Australian Government awarded the contract and work commenced in earnest to implement the study.

While there have been several changes over time in the management arrangements for the study, the Consortium Advisory Group has remained a stable source of expertise and guidance for the study. Members of the consortium are trained in economics, psychology, paediatrics, sociology, psychiatry, epidemiology, statistics, speech and language pathology, and education and many of them have extensive experience in creating and implementing large-scale population studies.

Consortium members (see Key personnel) provide expert input into the identification and selection of developmentally appropriate survey content for each wave of the study. They develop and/or recommend methods of direct assessment of survey participants, and take a great interest in recommending techniques for ensuring maximum retention of participants in the study over time. Members assist where feasible in value adding to the data that are collected; and, now, have a prominent role in producing research and policy findings from the study.

Consortium members also advise on and, where appropriate, seek other national and international advice from experts in specific areas of need in the development of study methods and content. Membership of the consortium has been relatively stable with gradual changes in its composition to accommodate changing careers and to meet the developmental content needs of the study.

Meetings between the LSAC Management Group (the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Australian Bureau of Statistics) and the CAG members take place via face-to-face meetings, CAG teleconferences and working group teleconferences on a regular basis during the content design periods.

Two to three face-to-face meetings are conducted each year with the LSAC Management Group and CAG members. In 2009-10 the group met in October and March. These meetings allow the CAG members and the LSAC Management Group to discuss the upcoming content and methodology of the study. Meetings generally usually run over two days.

In addition to attending meetings, CAG members spend time developing content and ideas to bring to meetings in their specified areas. Each month CAG members participate in a teleconference with the LSAC Management Group to be updated on study progress, upcoming papers and conferences using LSAC data, and to discuss content and/or methodology issues as they arise.

Working groups, led by CAG members, participate in a series of teleconferences during the design phase for an upcoming wave. For Wave 5, these occurred mainly between March and July 2010. Working groups covered a range of topics including neighbourhood and community, time use media and technology, becoming an adult, learning and achievement, health, peers, schools and child care. These meetings require CAG members to put in development time outside the meetings investigating previous and current research. The number of teleconferences for each group ranged from three to eight depending on the new material being considered.