ACWP Database

Academics and Post-Graduate research students in the areas of mental health, psychology, child development, or education, are invited to undertake secondary data analyses and publish their findings. We request that you keep us informed of any research or publications involving the ACWP database so that a record can be maintained.

If you are interested in talking with the ACWP research team to discuss how your organisation can undertake further analyses or collaboration, please contact Dr Petra Lietz or Associate Professor Gerry Redmond.

From this page you can download the ACWP dataset with the full set of responses from individual students. These files will be of use to health and education researchers who would like to undertake their own secondary analysis of the ACWP data. The files available on this page includes access to the SPSS data file (through ADA), reports, surveys, codebooks, and compendia.

   ACWP Main Study Data (SPSS)

Contains the de-identified unit level raw data with derived variables and weights.

Please click here to access to ACWP page on the Australian Data Archive website and follow the registration instructions in order to access the ACWP database. 
ACWP database has been downloaded 181 times as at November 2022. 

   ACWP Codebook (Excel)

Provides details about each survey item.

  ACWP Data Compendia (PDF)

Provides the proportion distribution of responses in each answer category for each variable. All results are unweighted.

   ACWP Technical Report (PDF)

The ACWP Technical Report provides statistical background to the main reports and supports the further use of the ACWP database.
Lietz, P., O’Grady, E., Tobin, M., Murphy, M., Macaskill, G., Dix, K., and Thomson, S. (2015). Australian Child Wellbeing Project Technical Report.

ACWP Survey Instruments (PDF)

  Year 4 Survey Instrument
  Year 6 Survey Instrument
  Year 8 Survey Instrument

 

The project included six phases over four years from 2012 to 2015:

Phase 6: ACWP Reporting and Data

a) ACWP Final Report   
Dec 2015: The final project report integrated findings from all phases of the project, to include qualitative research, descriptive results and in-depth analyses.

b) Public database and technical report
Dec 2015: The last phase of the project involved the production of an anonymised public database of ACWP main survey data, a technical report to support secondary data analyses, and to provide technical information to complement the ACWP final report. Please see the ACWP Database page for this report.

 

 

Phase 5: ACWP Analyses   

a)  Main survey data preparation 
Nov 2014 - Aug 2015: This phase of the study involved the cleaning and preparation of the main survey database.  

b) Main survey descriptive analyses
Feb - Nov 2015: This phase of the study involved undertaking descriptive analyses and reporting on all variables and scales in the main survey.  

c) In-depth analyses
Feb - Nov 2015: This phase involved in-depth analyses of the main survey data.


 

 

Phase 4: The Australian Child Wellbeing survey

a) National survey sampling and preparation
Feb - Jun 2014: This phase of the study involved drawing a nationally representative sample of schools for the national survey, which were invited to participate in the study.    

b) National survey implementation       
Jul - Oct 2014: This phase of the study involved the implementation of the main national survey to 5,440 students in 180 schools across Australia. 

c) Second round of qualitative research
Jul - Nov 2015: This phase of the study included a second round of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with young people from marginalised groups in order to provide more depth and context to the main survey findings.

Phase 4 Report 2015: The ACWP survey

Lietz, P., O’Grady, E., Tobin, M., Young-Thornton, J. and Redmond, G. (2015). The Australian Child Wellbeing Project: Phase Four Report. Survey sampling, permissions and logistics.

 



Phase 3: Field Trial survey  

Feb - Jun 2014 Phase three included a field trial of the main survey questionnaire, in order to pilot items and finalise the survey questionnaire. The field trial was conducted in 11 schools in NSW and Victoria.

 

Phase 3 Report 2015: The ACWP questionnaire: Results of the Field Trial

Lietz, P., O’Grady, E., Tobin, M., Popple, H., Hamilton, and Redmond, G. (2015). The ACWP questionnaire: Results of the Field Trial. Phase Three Report.

 

 

Phase 2: Developing wellbeing indicators

May - Dec 2013: Phase two included the development of wellbeing indicators for the national survey, informed in part by findings from Phase one qualitative research. Wellbeing indicators were developed and a pilot survey was constructed.

 

Phase 2 Report 2014: Towards the ACWP questionnaire

Lietz, P., O’Grady, E., Tobin, M., McEntee, A. and Redmond, G. (2014). Towards the ACWP questionnaire: Phase Two Report.

Phase 1: Obtaining young people’s conceptualisations of wellbeing

Jul 2012 - Apr 2013: Qualitative research with six groups of disadvantaged young people (Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, living with disability, living in regional and remote Australia, economically disadvantaged, and living in out of home care), as well as qualitative research with one group of mainstream young people.

 

 Summary sheets from the individual cohorts of young people:
  in out of home care
  with disability
  from disadvantage
  with cultural diversity
  from the mainstream
  in remote communities

Similar International Projects

Children's Worlds Project: International Survey of Children's Wellbeing. Lead Organisation: International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI). Partner investigators on the Australian Child Wellbeing Project, Jonathan Bradshaw and Sabine Andresen, are Principal Investigators on the Children's Worlds Project. Web: http://childrensworlds.org/

Young Lives Project: An International Study of Childhood Poverty. Lead organisation: University of Oxford. Web: http://www.younglives.org.uk

Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children: World Health Organization Collaborative Cross-National Survey. Lead organisation: University of St Andrews. Web: http://www.hbsc.org/