Research Design, Demography Flashcards
categories of research issues:
age effects
period effects
cohort effects
aka APC effects
age effects
occur due to physical decline
ex. slower response time
period/environmental effects
occur due to the time of measurement
cohort effects
relate to the time a person was born
cross-sectional research design
studies people from many age groups at one point in time
- measures differences between age groups
longitudinal research design
looks at a single group of people at 2 or more points in time
- measures age effects
- influenced by period effects
time-lag comparison design
looks at diff groups of people of the same age at different points in time
- measures difference between individuals and cohorts
- confounds cohort effects w period or environmental effects
sequential design
- looks at a series of cross-sectional studies during a longitudinal study
cross sectional studies allow for quick data collection
longitudinal studies check cross-sectional findings
types of research methods used to study aging
psychological tests focus groups surveys in-depth interviews participant observation content analysis ex. more older people talking about death and dying than young people
qualitative methods
include interviews, looking at documents, research, artifacts, and field observations to experience the world from the subject’s perspective
quantitative methods
statistical methods and mathematical models to analyze data
mixed methods
aka triangulation
- using more than one research method in a research study
canadian longitudinal study on aging
50,000 men and women in Hamilton and other cities b/w ages of 45-85 for at least 20 years
- looked at biological, medical, social, economic, and lifestyle aspects of people’s lives to help understand how these factors influence health maintenance and dev’t of disease and disability throughout life
topics of research interests
gender and age differences related to income, health, retirement, widowhood, caregiving, leisure interests
some ethical issues in research
- the need for informed consent
- the need to guard subjects from harm (phys, emotional, w/e)
- the need to protect individuals privacy
silver tsunami
a not nice way of describing aging baby boomers
measures of population aging
- number of older people in the population (ok but what age is this?)
- the median age of a population (half will be higher and half will be lower than the median)
- the proportion of older people in a population
are most nations of the world aging?
yes.
in canada the proportion of older people in rose from 5% (1921) to 15% (2011)
developed regions
- large proportions of older people and low fertility rates
- large increase in the oldest old (80+ bc more people are living to old age)
challenges in developed regions
higher health care and pension costs
also more social support needs
- the way pensions are being offered is a result of baby boomers
by 2036 it’s projected that:
25% of the total population of Canada will be 65+
in ____, the share of seniors exceeded the share of children <15
solution?
2016
solution: have more LTC centres where schools are closing. plan ahead
for people aged 85 to 99 there are __ men to 100 women.
why?
how about for centenarians?
54
bc women have longer life expectancies; however this gap is now narrowing
for centenarians there is 1 man for 5 women
the role of immigration on the aging population of canada
very little actually
immigrants before 1990 came more from the UK/Europe
- currently we have mostly younger immigrants
