Many longitudinal studies augment the information collected from participants by asking for their consent to link their data to government administrative records, such as their Key Stage test scores at school, their tax and benefits records, or electronic health records such as hospital admittances.
In the case of some studies, administrative records are a fundamental part of the study design. For example, the Hertfordshire Cohort Study is based on a set of administrative data collected by health visitors in Hertfordshire between 1911 and 1945. The records were more detailed than those found elsewhere in England and had been preserved in good condition. In the 1990s, a group of researchers contacted those who were still living in Hertfordshire. They were interviewed about their medical and social histories, detailed medical assessments were carried out, and biological samples collected. This information about their later lives was linked to the information from their health records about their births and early years.
There are a number of advantages of being able to link study longitudinal study data to government records. These include the fact that administrative records are often much more detailed then survey data, either in terms of the level of information they provide or the regularity with which the records are collected. The records can provide an objective measure (such as an exam result, diagnosis or hospital visit) of information that would otherwise depend on the participant remembering and reporting it correctly.
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