With rising life expectancy and a low fertility rate, Singapore has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world. This presents a multitude of challenges for Singapore, especially in terms of ensuring the well-being of older adults as they transition through the ageing process.
This situation beckons the question: how can we best provide for the well-being of older adults in Singapore and promote successful ageing?
Established in July 2020, the Singapore Management University (SMU) Centre for Research On Successful Ageing (ROSA) will continue the long-term study of Singapore’s ageing trends that began with the Centre for Research on the Economics of Ageing (CREA) in August 2015. This will be done with data collected from the Singapore Life Panel® (SLP). Under ROSA, the SLP will be refreshed, with a wider, larger sample and a broader research focus.
The SLP will continue to play a key role in the research at ROSA. The monthly surveys that the participants complete will help the Centre understand ageing trends in Singapore and answer questions related to the one above.
The following are highlights of what makes the panel so important:
1. LARGE-SCALE SURVEY
With about 8,000 households selected to form a representative sample of the Singapore population, the SLP is the most valid and representative survey of its kind. Under ROSA the study will assess the well-being of older Singaporeans across economic, physical, mental, and social dimensions, as well as the factors that shape these dimensions of well-being today and into the future.
2. MONTHLY SURVEY
Instead of conducting surveys at two-year intervals — the standard for this kind of study — the survey is done on a monthly basis. This means a higher accuracy of reporting that enables researchers to observe how Singaporeans respond to changes in their circumstances and in turn, analyse the effects of policy changes.
3. MULTIMODAL SURVEY
The SLP employs multiple modes to conduct its surveys, including the online mode, telephone interviews, and physical interviews. While the survey is administered online for a majority of respondents, allowing for different aspects of ageing to be introduced easily as new questions emerge from the study, additional modes are made available to respondents who are uncomfortable with the online medium or who may not have internet access readily available. This allows for the SLP to attain a representative sample.