Family Whānau and Wellbeing Project (FWWP)

2004–2010

Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology

Peter Davis, Roy Lay-Yee, Mark Wheldon, Gerard Cotterell, Stephen McTaggart, Martin von Randow

Sue Milligan, Chris Errington, Pat Coope, Angela Fabian, Charles Crothers, Mervyl McPherson

This was a five-year research programme supported by the social science funding pool of the then Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. The principal goal was to develop ways to examine and monitor the social and economic determinants of family and whānau wellbeing, and how these changed over the 1981–2006 period. The principal units of investigation were the family and the household, and census microdata, via the governance of Statistics New Zealand, were used.

FWWP drew on approximately $135 million worth of data collection, and also addressed the issues of analysing census data over time, assessing compatibility of census data over the years, and then assessing trends observed 1981–2006. The project also explored the feasibility of monitoring the impact of social policy events on the population, or key population groups, providing an invaluable source of information for considering future public policy and simulating expected impacts on society.

A number of publications resulted directly from FWWP, and these were added to with the addition of 2013 Census data when they became available.

• McTaggart S (2005). Monitoring the Impact of Social Policy, 1980–2001: Report on signficant policy events. ISBN 0-477-10012-0 (book); ISBN 0-477-10013-9 (online).
• Crothers C and Cotterell G (2006). Working Paper: Monitoring the Impact of Social Policy, 1980–2001: Social expenditure patterns in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
• Milligan S, Fabian A, Coope P, Errington C (2006). Family Wellbeing Indicators from the 1981–2001 New Zealand Censuses. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand.
  
• Cotterell G and Crothers C (2008). Working Paper: Social Indicators and Social Reporting in New Zealand, and the Potential Contribution of FWWP.
• Cotterell G, von Randow M, Wheldon M (2008). Measuring Changes in Family and Whānau Wellbeing using Census Data, 1981–2006. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand.
  
• Cotterell G, von Randow M, Wheldon M (2008). An Examination of the Links between Parental Educational Qualifications, Family Structure and Family Wellbeing, 1981–2006. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
  
• Errington C, Cotterell G, von Randow M, Milligan S (2008). A guide to using data from the New Zealand Census: 1981–2006. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand.
  
• Cotterell G, Wheldon M, Milligan S (2008). Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2001. Social Indicators Research 86(3): 453–467, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9179-2.
  
• McPherson M, Davis P, Wheldon M, von Randow M (2010). Working Paper: Trends in Wellbeing Indicators for New Zealand Born Mothers and their Families, 1981–2006: An exploratory cohort analysis using census data.
• Kiro C, von Randow M, Sporle A (2010). Trends in Wellbeing for Māori Households/Families, 1981–2006. Auckland: Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.
  
• Kiro C, von Randow M, Sporle A (2011). Trends in Māori wellbeing: 1981–2006: A summary. New Zealand Sociology 26 (Special Issue): 68–75.
• Cotterell G and Crothers C (2011). Social Indicators and Social Reporting in New Zealand, and the Potential Contribution of the Family Whānau and Wellbeing Project. New Zealand Journal of Social Policy 37: 152–171.
  
• Davis P, McPherson M, Wheldon M, von Randow M (2012). Monitoring Sociodemographic Risk: A cohort analysis of families using census microdata. Social Indicators Research 108(1): 111–130, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9869-7.
• Crothers C, von Randow M, Cotterell G (2013). Measuring changes in family wellbeing in New Zealand 1981 to 2006. New Zealand Sociology 28(3): 237–254, http://hdl.handle.net/10292/6563.
• von Randow M and Crothers C (2014). Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2013: An update. New Zealand Sociology 29(3): 30–37.