ALSPAC proposes to use the funding from DCSF (£30,000 in the first year and £55,000 in the second year) towards increasing participation in the ALSPAC study.

In June 2009, ALSPAC executive commissioned the Social Marketing Department at University of West of England to conduct research into how ALSPAC could increase participation in the study. A literature search was carried out which revealed that recruiting and retaining 16-18 year olds in longitudinal cohort studies is a common problem. This is because it is a difficult time for them with hugely conflicting demands over their time and energies. They tend to be very busy and prefer not to adhere to strict timetables or commit to long-term research projects. This has been evident in our recent participation rates for clinic and questionnaires which shows a marked difference from even a year ago. The literature review confirms that although retention is challenging, it can be done, as long as there is an in depth understanding of what moves and motivates young people.

Focus groups were held with participants from the ALSPAC study to try and find out more about what motivates them and what would keep them engaged in the project. Those interviewed were 17 or 18 years old and were from a diverse range of social and study participation backgrounds. Of particular interest were the participants who had completely disengaged from the study. The interviews were analysed and the findings were used to develop strategies that could increase participation. A plan has been devised to implement these strategies over the next two years. This coincides with the remainder of the DCSF funding data collection, Focus at 17 and the 18 year questionnaire.

Findings from these initiatives will be disseminated amongst the research community and hold many benefits for other longitudinal cohort studies, e.g. LSYPE. As previously mentioned, attrition is a major problem in all longitudinal studies, especially amongst young people, and if ALSPAC can show that certain strategies are successful in retaining young people in the study then these techniques can be transferred to LSYPE and other research projects. The DCSF have invested a considerable amount of money into the development of the ALSPAC data set, and through data linkage ALSPAC will continue to collect further education data from the National Pupil Database. The proposed engagement initiatives will enable future data collection to add outcome data to the resource. This significant data set will enable the DCSF to continue to track the young people and their educational achievements and aspirations which could inform their policy making.

ALSPAC intend to fully evaluate each of the initiatives described below with a view to assessing which was the most successful in terms of increasing the participation rate and why. Firstly, we will undertake background research to examine the effectiveness andefficiencyof similar initiatives elsewhere and learn from the most successful of these. Secondly, we will clearly identify the aims and objectives of each initiative and judge the outcome of the activity against these aims and objectives. We will regularly run focus groups and other participatory activities to sound out our participants views on the various activities we are running and if appropriate adapt the activity accordingly.

We believe that the following initiatives are those most likely to improve participation in the study over the next two years.

Year One (November 2009 - March 2010)

1. New Media techniques

In the first year the focus will be on using marketing and new media techniques in order to 'reach out' to the young people in the cohort. The social marketing report highlighted very strongly that "the internet is a social crutch of huge importance" to the cohort members. They communicate primarily through social networking sites such as Facebook. To maintain contact and credibility with the teenagers, it is essential that ALSPAC fully engages with this online world. In addition to straightforward communication, we need to build online communities which will maintain cohort loyalty, particularly now that the members are dispersing geographically as they get jobs or go to college. ALSPAC already has a presence on Facebook and YouTube, but to make the most of the enormous potential of the internet we need specialist help to develop, execute and monitor a long-term online strategy. This work would include establishing and moderating networks and forums, orchestrating 'viral' and 'buzz' marketing, and creating unique games. Marketing research stressed the importance of these techniques within this age group. It would also include constant monitoring of the ever-changing online world and how the age group inhabits it. Facebook leads the field at the moment - but in a few months it may fall out of fashion. ALSPAC need to stay one step ahead and to keep the cohort members engaged. Specialist youth/digital marketers will ensure that ALSPAC always puts across the right messages in the right media. One idea is to use 'key peers' to engage with the cohort. The key peers will be the 'popular' young people who have lots of influence over a wide range of other young people including those who are disengaged in the study. They will be commissioned to provide content for the ALSPAC facebook site, to comment on ALSPAC on their Facebook page, as well as upload photos of ALSPAC events. Through the use of age appropriate materials and the involvement of influential peers we aim to encourage their 'friends' on Facebook to become interested in what ALSPAC is all about and to get them re-engaged.

2. Targeted Messages

In order that ALSPAC reaches out to the whole cohort it is important to target the young people as three separate groups; the engaged, recently dropped off, the disengaged. The report made it very clear that involving these three groups in the study would require three different strategies. For example, the young people who were engaged with the study wanted to find out more about the 'Science', whereas the recently dropped off and disengaged could be motivated by incentives. We would like to commission specialist help in assisting us with formulating targeted messages to each of these groups and the way in which this message should be delivered. Funding is also necessary in order to give these incentives; they are likely to range from vouchers for Amazon.co.uk to offering custom 'fitness testing' sessions based on ALSPAC scientific expertise. This would make sure that the three separate groups were catered for.

Year Two (April 2010 - March 2011)

1. Club Membership

The focus for the funding in the second year will be on introducing 'club membership' to all those originally eligible for the study as they turn 18 years of age. This is something that all of the young people taking part in the focus groups were very enthusiastic about. The idea behind this is to keep all of the YPs engaged in the study and to give ALSPAC more of a presence in their everyday lives. It would be similar to an NUS card but will be free to join. The young people will be given a membership card which will entitle them to discounts on various items that could include: nationwide shops/cinemas, a free bus/rail card etc and entry to ALSPAC events (e.g. CV writing, fitness assessment, parties and comedy nights) and competitions. More importantly, it will sustain a link between ALSPAC and them. ALSPAC will be able to keep them updated with what they are doing and what clinics/questionnaires are currently running. For instance, using their membership card, they will be able to use their 'username' to access online questionnaires etc. Evidence has shown that questionnaires are becoming less popular than they were; especially with boys. Short online questionnaires are one way in which to address this problem and if it can be linked in with a membership scheme where there will be incentives to fill out the questionnaire then this will hopefully keep the young people on board with the study. The DCSF funding will go towards setting this up and the ongoing development of the scheme.

Costs

These initiatives will cost £30,000 in Year 1 and £55,000 in Year 2. The costs are broken down below:

Year 1

• New media techniques - £10,000
• Specialist expertise - £5,000
• Incentives - £15,000

Year 2

• Club membership - £45,000
• Continuing new media techniques - £10,000

Summary

ALSPAC is at a critical phase of its development. There is serious concern that as the study participants enter young adulthood they will desert the study. We are very encouraged by the findings of this recent work we have undertaken as it shows that attrition is not inevitable and that with further funding there are strategies that can be put in place to increase participation. These initiatives are likely to attract particpants across the social spectrum which has major advantages in terms of representiveness of the study.