ELSA COVID-19 Substudy

The ELSA COVID-19 Substudy aims to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the older population in England.

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We have been awarded funding from the Economic and Social Research Council via the UK Research and Innovation Covid-19 Rapid Response call, to collect data from more than 10,000 of our ELSA participants, all aged 50 years and over, asking them about their experiences of the COVID-19 crisis.

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Data Collection 

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Fieldwork for the first wave lasted 54 days (7 weeks and 5 days), with the survey launching on 3rd June 2020. The CATI fieldwork started on the 29th June and lasted for 4 weeks, with a smaller number of study participants being assigned to the telephone interviewers two weeks earlier than the others.

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The first wave of the ELSA COVID-19 Substudy closed on the 26th July 2020, achieving a final response rate of 75% (7,040 completed interviews from a sample of 9,392 study participants), with 83% of the surveys completed online and 17% on the phone.

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The web fieldwork for the second wave started on the 4th November 2020 and lasted 47 days (6 weeks and 5 days, one week shorter than the first wave). The CATI fieldwork started one week after, on the 11th November.

The second wave of the ELSA COVID-19 Substudy closed on the 20th December 2020, confirming the same response rate and split in modes witnessed in the first wave of the Substudy: final response rate of 75% (6,794 completed interviews, with fewer study participants issued to the second wave due to refusals and ineligibility), 83% of the surveys were completed online and 17% on the phone.

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Data from the first wave of the ELSA COVID-19 Substudy is now available to download via the UK Data Service.

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Rapid reports

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Methodological report 

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