This application, submitted by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in collaboration with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina (FPG), is to serve as the Data Acquisition and Analysis Center (DAAC) for Phase II of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC) (RFA:HD-95-004). The purpose of this collaborative study is to examine the relationship between child development and child care by conducting follow-up studies on a cohort of children who were recruited approximately five years ago in Phase I of this study. The broad roles of the DAAC in this study, are to have primary responsibility for collecting, editing, managing, storing and analyzing the study data collected at ten sites; to take an active role in refining and developing the study materials; to develop and implement data collection systems; to oversee quality control; to conduct training of site staff; to prepare periodic reports for the Steering Committee; to develop and implement communication systems between sites; to provide logistical support for the study; and to assist in the publication of study results. As the DAAC for the study, RTI/FPG will be involved in all phases of the project, working closely with the various study groups. During the first few months of the study, RTI/FPG will take an active role in refining the study materials (e.g., data forms) and will develop data collection systems (e.g., distributed data entry, computer assisted interviewing) in consultation with the Steering Committee. We will also pretest the data forms; train site personnel in all aspects of the study, including the data collection systems; and work with the sites to prepare for the start of data collection, including setting up the necessary quality control procedures. We will then implement computer systems to receive, process, edit, and store data received from the sites. We will also implement systems for monitoring completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of site data, and for timely communication to the Steering Committee. We will conduct site visits on a periodic basis to each site and will perform statistical analysis of the accumulating data and report the results of this analysis on a regular basis to the appropriate study groups. Upon conclusion of the studies data collection, the DAAC will assist sites with study closeout, continue to prepare appropriate reports to monitor all aspects of the study, prepare a final documented computer tape of study data and collaborate with study investigators in the preparation of manuscripts for publication and presentation. In addition, we will provide logistic support to the study in arranging meetings and telephone conferences, prepare agenda and minutes of these meeting and calls, and other related support functions as requested. We are also prepared to provide child development and economic input to all phases of the study including assuring that the necessary data are collected to address the study objectives. Our proposed data collection and data processing systems involve well developed data entry, communications and data management software used on many previous multisite studies. Training of site staff also follows well established methods used on several previous multisite studies. The proposed DAAC staff have extensive experience in cooperative multisite studies which we have been conducting for over 20 years and includes a strong interdisciplinary team with expertise in statistics, developmental psychology, economics, data management, site monitoring, study materials design, and coordination and administration of multisite studies.
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