Transitioning an In-Person Survey of Older Adults to Multi-Mode Data Collection.

Objectives: The first three rounds of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) were in-person. Preparing for Round Four (R4), NSHAP began developing ways to collect complex questionnaire and biomeasure data remotely. R4 was scheduled to begin in 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, NSHAP delayed R4 data collection and instead conducted a study on respondents' experiences during the pandemic, as well as pretests to strengthen NSHAP's remote data collection capability.

Ongoing Refinement and Innovation in the Data Collection Protocols of the Third Round of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.

Objectives: The third round (R3) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of community-residing older adults, consisted of 4,777 in-person interviews and 6,100 completed visits to households to identify newly eligible respondents. It revisited respondents from the first rounds (Cohort 1), born in the years 1920 through 1947, and added new respondents (Cohort 2) born in the years 1948 through 1965. Coresidential romantic partners of both cohorts were also eligible.

Survey field methods for expanded biospecimen and biomeasure collection in NSHAP Wave 2.

Objectives: The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of older adults. A main component is the collection of biomeasures to objectively assess physiological status relevant to psychosocial variables, aging conditions, and disease. Wave 2 added novel biomeasures, refined those collected in Wave 1, and provides a reference for the collection protocols and strategy common to the biomeasures.

Glycosylated hemoglobin testing in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.

Objectives: Longitudinal biomeasures of health are still new in nationally representative social science survey research. Data measuring blood sugar control provide opportunities for understanding the development of diabetes and its complications in older adults, but researchers must be aware that some of the differences across time can be due to variations in measurement procedures. This is a well-recognized issue whenever all samples cannot be assayed at the same time and we sought to present the analytic methods to quantify and adjust for the variation.

Continuity and innovation in the data collection protocols of the second Wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.

Background: The second Wave (W2) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of older adults now between the ages of 62 and 90, conducted approximately 3,400 interviews. Selected coresidential romantic partners as well as W1 panel nonrespondents were selected for W2. Data collection included in-person questionnaires, up to 15 biomeasures, and a post-interview questionnaire.