Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
Design and methodology of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing
Brendan J Whelan1, George M Savva
1Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Objectives:
To provide comprehensive data on older people in Ireland and new insights into the causal processes underlying the aging transformation.
Design:
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a population-representative prospective cohort study with baseline assessment conducted between October 2009 and February 2011 and follow-up waves planned every 2 years. Participants were sampled in geographic clusters, with each member of the Irish population aged 50 and older having an equal probability of being invited to participate in the study.
Setting:
Community-living population of the Republic of Ireland aged 50 and older.
Participants:
Eight thousand one hundred seventy-five participants aged 50 and older at time of interview participated in the study, along with 329 spouses or partners younger than 50.
Measurements:
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing includes detailed assessments of the mental and physical health and social and financial circumstances of participants, which are assessed in a home interview, a self-completion questionnaire, and a detailed health assessment that takes place at a dedicated health center or in the respondent's home.
Results:
The response rate was 62.0%, with response rate varying according to educational attainment. Data from the first wave of data collection are available for researchers at the Irish Social Sciences Data Archive.
Conclusion:
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing provides an opportunity to study the interactions between the health and social and economic circumstances of the older population in a nationally representative sample.
Related Concept Videos
02:20Longitudinal Research
01:26Longitudinal Studies
01:50Cross-Sectional Research
01:11Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One example of...
01:20Study Designs in Epidemiology
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies.
01:15Study Design in Statistics
Does aspirin reduce the risk of heart attacks? Is one brand of fertilizer more effective at growing roses than another? Is fatigue as dangerous to a driver as the influence of alcohol? Questions like these are answered using randomized experiments with proper...