Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities Study (COSMO) is a longitudinal cohort study, a collaboration between the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO), the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), and the Sutton Trust. The overarching aim of COSMO is to provide a representative data resource to support research into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the life chances of pupils with different characteristics, in terms of short-term effects on educational attainment, and long-term educational and career outcomes.The topics covered by COSMO include, but are not limited to, young people's education experiences during the pandemic, cancelled assessments and education and career aspirations. They have also been asked for consent for linking their survey data to their administrative data held by organisations such as the UK Department for Education (DfE). Linked data is planned to be made available to researchers through the ONS Secure Research Service.Young people who were in Year 11 in the 2020-2021 academic year were drawn as a clustered and stratified random sample from the National Pupil Database held by the DfE, as well as from a separate sample of independent schools from DfE's Get Information about Schools database. The parents/guardians of the sampled young people were also invited to take part in COSMO. Data from parents/guardians complement the data collected from young people.Further information about the study may be found on the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities Study (COSMO) webpage.
COSMO Wave 1, 2021-2022Data collection in Wave 1 was carried out between September 2021 and April 2022. Young people and parents/guardians were first invited to a web survey. In addition to receiving online reminders, some non-respondents were followed up via face-to-face visits over the winter and throughout spring. Latest edition information: The fourth edition (April 2024) follows the release of Wave 2 data. For this edition, a longitudinal parents dataset has been deposited, to help data users find core background information from parents who took part in either Wave 1 or Wave 2, in one place. A new version of the young person data file (version 2.1) has also been deposited. This file now includes weight variables for researchers who wish to analyse complete households, where, in addition to a young person taking part at Wave 1, a parent had taken part at either Wave (1 or Wave 2). The COSMO Wave 1 Data User Guide Version 2.1 explains these updates in detail. Further information about the study may be found on the COSMO website.
Main Topics:
For young people, Wave 1 covered: a household gridcurrent statusqualifications studied towardseducation during the pandemic (on the basis of three main time periods: Lockdown 1: from April to July 2020, and Lockdown 3: from January to March 2021, and when most schools were open, September to December 2020)catch-up activitiescancelled assessmentseducation and career aspirationsextra-curricular activities pre- and post-pandemicattitudes to educationhealth and wellbeingfriends, peers and family support; and health-related behaviours. For parents, Wave 2 covered: demographicsattitudes to educationparenting, home learning, tuition and catch-upworking status across the pandemicparental tenure, HRP and occupation detailsparental educationparental incomeCOVID-19 history and vaccinationpandemic impact on family lifeparent health and well-being; and disadvantage.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
Self-administered questionnaire: Computer-assisted (CASI)
