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Cross-study data guides
A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies
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1970 British Cohort Study
BCS70 Age 16 (1986)
BCS70 Age 16 Spelling Test

BCS70 – Age 16 – Spelling Test

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) assessed their cohort members (CMs) during the study’s age 16 sweep using the Spelling Test.

Details on this measure and the data collected from the CMs are outlined in the table below.

Year of data collection:	1986
Domain:	Verbal (spelling)
Measures:	Spelling
CHC:	Grw (Reading/Writing)
CLOSER Source:	Explore this sweep in CLOSER Discovery: BCS70 Age 16 Survey (1986) (opens in a new tab)
Administrative method:	Administered in schools and home version of the Education Pack. (variable ‘bversion’ identifies if administered at school (0) or home (1)). Time limits apply.
Procedure:	Spelling was assessed by two tests (A and B). 100 words for each test – some spelt correctly and some incorrectly, CM identifies whether correct or incorrect. The words get harder as the test progresses. Order of test rotated by odd and even days.
Procedure:	Duration: 20 minutes, 10 minutes. each section (A&B)
Link to questionnaire:	https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BCS70-16-year-Document-B.pdf (opens in new tab)
Link to questionnaire:
Scoring:	200 in total, 1 point for each correct answer
Item-level variable(s):	c7a1 – c7a100 (Test A)
Item-level variable(s):	c7b1 – c7b100 (Test B)
Total score/derived variable(s):	None
Age of participants (months):	Mean = 189.36, SD = 4.27, Range = 189 – 213 (N: 3,463)*
Age of participants (months):	*Based on school sample only
Descriptives:	Raw score
	N = 5,649
	Range = 0 – 199
	Mean = 162.71
	SD = 28.26
	(click image to enlarge)
Measured other sweep and/or cohort:	None
Source:	Unknown
Technical resources:	Parsons, S. (2014) Childhood cognition in the 1970 British Cohort Study, CLS Working Paper. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies. (Link opens in a new tab).
Example articles:	Sullivan, A. (2006). Academic self-concept, gender and single-sex schooling in the 1970 British Cohort Study. CLS Working Paper. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies.
Example articles:	Sullivan, A., Parsons, S., Wiggins, R., Heath, A., & Green, F. (2014). Social origins, school type and higher education destinations. Oxford Review of Education, 40(6), 739-763.