One of the largest costs of undertaking research is data collection. The Australian Government’s Department of Social Services has been collecting longitudinal data on thousands of Australians for many years. While a lot of the data are numerical, requiring quantitative techniques, they also collect textual data that can be analysed using qualitative techniques. Data sets for up to 10,000 people (adults or children) are available for free. Here is information from their website (
https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/national-centre-for-longitudinal-data):
The NCLD provides access to new release of data for our four longitudinal studies through the Australian Data Archive Dataverse(link is external) platform. Dataverse provides no cost data access and allows authorised data users to download the datasets to their password-protected PC, secure network or approved cloud.
All four NCLD studies are now available on Dataverse:
Additionally, the Australian Government provides access to national census data.
Researchers from CSU's FOAE who have been publishing research using these studies include: Amy Macdonald, Graham Daniel, Sharynne McLeod, Audrey Wang, Michelle Brown and our HDR students and colleagues. Here are some of our papers:
- Blake, H. L., Bennetts Kneebone, L., & McLeod, S. (2017). The impact
of oral English proficiency on humanitarian migrants’ experiences of settling
in Australia. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,
Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/13670050.2017.1294557
- Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Fuller, G. (2018). The
relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher
education, employment and income from two Australian censuses. International
Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(2), 202-215. doi:10.1080/17549507.2016.1229031
- Brown, M. I., Wang, C.,
& McLeod, S. (2019). Reading with 1-2 year olds impacts later academic
achievement at 8-11 years. Manuscript in
submission.
- Harrison, L. J., & McLeod, S. (2010). Risk and protective factors
associated with speech and language impairment in a nationally representative
sample of 4- to 5-year-old children. Journal of Speech, Language, and
Hearing Research, 53(2), 508-529. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0086
- Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Berthelsen, D., & Walker, S. (2009).
Literacy, numeracy, and learning in school-aged children identified as having
speech and language impairment in early childhood. International Journal of
Speech-Language Pathology, 11(5), 392-403. doi:10.1080/17549500903093749
- McCormack, J.,
Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., & McAllister, L. (2011). A nationally
representative study of the association between communication impairment at 4-5
years and children's life activities at 7-9 years. Journal of Speech,
Language and Hearing Research, 54(5), 1328-1348.
doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0155
- McLeod, S. (2011).
Cultural and linguistic diversity in Australian 4- to 5-year-old children and
their parents. ACQuiring Knowledge in
Speech, Language, and Hearing, 13(3),
112-119.
- McLeod, S., & Harrison, L. J. (2009). Epidemiology of speech and
language impairment in a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old
children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(5), 1213-1229.
doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0085)
- McLeod,
S., & Verdon, S. (2015). Longitudinal patterns of language use, diversity,
support, and competence. In Department of Social Services. (Ed.), Footprints
in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Report from Wave 5 (pp. 66-70).
Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.
- McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Wang, C. (2019). A longitudinal
population study of literacy and numeracy outcomes for children identified with
speech, language, and communication needs in early childhood. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 507-517. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.07.004
- McLeod, S., Harrison,
L. J., Whiteford, C., & Walker, S. (2016). Multilingualism and
speech-language competence in early childhood: Impact on academic and
social-emotional outcomes at school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 34,
53-66. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.08.005
- McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Bennetts Kneebone, L. (2014). Celebrating
young Indigenous Australian children's speech and language competence. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(2), 118-131. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.11.003
- Shahaeian, A., Wang, C., Tucker-Drob, E., Geiger, V., Bus, A. G., &
Harrison, L. J. (2018). Early shared reading, socioeconomic status, and children’s
cognitive and school competencies: Six years of longitudinal evidence. Scientific
Studies of Reading, 22(6), 485-502. doi:10.1080/10888438.2018.1482901
- Verdon, S., & McLeod, S. (2015). Indigenous language learning and
maintenance among young Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(1), 153-170.
doi:10.1007/s13158-015-0131-3
- Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Winsler, A. (2014a). Linguistic diversity
among Australian children in the first 5 years of life. Speech, Language and
Hearing, 17(4), 196–203. doi:10.1179/2050572814Y.0000000038
- Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Winsler, A. (2014b). Language maintenance
and loss in a population study of young Australian children. Early Childhood
Research Quarterly, 29, 168-181. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.12.003
- Wang, C., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Walker, S., & Spilt, J. L.
(2018). Can teacher–child relationships support human rights to freedom of
opinion and expression, education and participation? International Journal
of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 133-141.
doi:10.1080/17549507.2018.1408855
