The New Kids on the Methods Block: Using New Methods in Existing Data to Get New Answers

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The rapid expansion of quantitative methods in the social sciences can provide child development researchers with opportunities to address new questions, or to get new answers, in existing datasets. At the same time, child development research often requires that these methods are adapted to represent the phenomena we are interested in, being either guided by the idiosyncrasies of human development, of developmental theory, or of a need for theories of measurement.

In this symposium, three papers will be presented that expand on methodology for causal inference from other fields of social science, by adapting them to special circumstances relevant for child development research. The first paper uses synthetic controls to model the effects of a school-based intervention (City Connects) when assumptions for traditional quasi-experimental designs are violated. The second paper exploits a well-known dataset in our field, the Family Life Project, using a triple-differencing model to estimate the effect of a tobacco-tax (hence reduced smoking in the home) on child outcomes. The third paper shows how structural equation modeling can be used to combine psychometric measurement models with quasi-experimental approaches primarily used in economics, like instrumental variable-, difference-in-difference-models. The discussant is a labor economist well versed in the field of child development, who will address the importance of expanding novel methodologies in this field.

Sub Unit

• Methods, History, Theory

Chair

• Henrik D. Zachrisson, University of Oslo

Discussant

• Lynn A Karoly, RAND - DC

Individual Presentations

• Applications of Synthetic Control Models in Educational Research - Presenting Author: Noman Khanani, Boston College

• A Modest Tobacco Tax and Child-Care Attendance Mitigate Nicotine Exposure in Young Children - Presenting Author: Daniel Berry, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Non-Presenting Author: Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Michael T. Willoughby, RTI International; Non-Presenting Author: Clancy Blair, New York University

• The Best of Two Worlds? Merging Psychometrics and Econometrics - Presenting Author: Henrik D. Zachrisson, University of Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Nicolai Topstad Borgen, Universitetet i Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør, Universitetet i Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Dearing, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Gulbin Sengul-Inal, University of Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Lynn A Karoly, RAND - DC; Non-Presenting Author: Eivind Ystrøm, University of Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Torkild Hovde Lyngstad, University of Oslo