fragile families and child wellbeing study codebook

In the second step, we will use the individual models and the community model to conduct substantive and methodological research. This first step is an example of the common task method, which David Donoho (2015) has called the “secret sauce” of machine learning. We used the unreleased test set to evaluate each model. Participants then submitted their code, their model outputs, and a narrative explanation of their modeling strategy. The Fragile Families Challenge involves two steps. In the first step, described above and now complete, participants built statistical and machine learning models of several important outcomes in the lives of the children. And, we expect that through a mass collaboration we will accomplish things that none of us could accomplish individually. We expect that by combining ideas from social science and data science, we can-together-help address important scientific and social problems. The Fragile Families Challenge is our attempt to create a new way of doing social research, one that is much more open to the talents and efforts of everyone. In fact, we’re confident that some of the best ideas will come from unexpected places. The Fragile Families Challenge is open to everyone, no matter where you live or what you do. We will use the models submitted to the Fragile Families Challenge to advance the scientific goals of the project, and we will publish the results in scientific journals, both individually and collectively. This predictive modeling is not the end of the project, however.

Given all the background data from birth to year 9 and some training data from year 15, how well could participants infer six key outcomes in the year 15 test data? Participants were challenged to use this data in a new way. These data have been used in hundreds of scientific papers and dozens of dissertations, and insight from these studies are routinely shared with policy makers around the world through the Future of Children, which is jointly published by Princeton University and Brookings Institution. During this time, the Fragile Families study collected information about the children, their parents, their schools, and their larger environments. The Fragile Families Challenge is based on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which has followed thousands of American families for more than 15 years. By working together, we can discover things that none of us can discover individually. The Fragile Families Challenge is a mass collaboration that combines predictive modeling, causal inference, and in-depth interviews to yield insights that can improve the lives of disadvantaged children in the United States.

Fragile families and child wellbeing study codebook