GAN Global Surveillance: Prevalence, Severity, Management and Risk Factors. Centre Report(Phase 1) Instructions
The Centre Report for the 13/14 year old adolescents and the 6/7 year old childrenis an important document, designed to assist each GAN Phase 1 centre and the GAN Global Centre to accurately document centre methodology. The following notes may be of assistance when the accompanying Centre Report is being completed. We encourage you to contact us at if there is anything that is unclear.PLEASE NOTE: The fieldwork for 13/14 & 6/7 years can be undertaken at different times. If the Adults are included it is vital the questionnaires are linked to the adolescent and childrens’ questionnaires. This can be done by using the coding boxes (see fieldwork guidelines in the manual).
We advise collaborators to read the Centre Report through when you receive it, as there may be questions that you can answer as your study progresses.
Method of consent
The preferred method of consent for participants is passive consent, however your local Ethics Committee will advise you on the method best used in your country. Passive consent is generally allowed for the 6/7 year age group and the Adult group where the questionnaires are sent home for completion by parents of the 6/7 year olds and the Adults. Completion and return of the questionnaire means that consent is implicit. The method of consent for the adolescent group is more conflicting. Passive consent for this age group is where an information letter is sent home for the parents and they are asked to contact the fieldwork or Principal Investigator if they or their adolescent do not wish to participate. Active consent is where the information letter and a consent form is sent home and the consent form must be signed and returned to school before the adolescent can be involved in the survey. Active consent generally results in a much lower participation rate which is the reason why passive consent is preferred. In addition, it can be argued that if parents or their adolescent do not wish to participate they will make an effort to let the investigator know and that is they are happy with their adolescent participating, they will not need to do anything further. Lack of communication with the investigator therefore implies consent. Please note that a response rate of less than 70% for the adolescents and less than 60% for the children will result in your centre data being excluded from the world wide analyses.
Centre Report Questions
1.3A detailed map of the area or city, clearly showing the geographical boundaries of your study area. Ideally this will be a vector or shape file compatible with Geographic Information Software such as ArcGIS (available from If this is not possible, a hand drawn and scanned map drawn on a commercial street map or printout of google maps or similar will be acceptable. The map should be sent to Global Centre with the completed centre report. A previous ISAAC map may be of sufficient quality to be used in GAN.
1.4 – 1.8It is important to document the reasons why schools are excluded and the reasons why collaborators reject schools after they have been selected. Some schools are excluded before the sampling frame has been set and some schools are rejected by the researchers after they have agreed to take part.
1.9This question has 2 parts. Part A asks for the total number of schools in the sampling frame that was chosen and Part B asks for the totalnumber of children for the selected age group that were in these schools.
2.1Centres may use different methods of selecting children within schools: grade/level/year where the classes with most children in the age group are selected to participate, and even younger/older children are included; age group where only children in the age group, regardless of grade/level/year are selected to participate; and other methods, that may include elements of these two methods. If you selected ‘Other’ please describe.
3.1 – 3.4Double entry of 10% ofdata is the expected method of entering data, to minimise data entry errors and to allow a comparison to be made between entries. If a large number of errors are found then it is expected that the full data set will be double entered.
4.1 – 4.8Collaborators are encouraged to check the demographic details on the questionnaires and amend if necessary. For example a pupil may have inserted the wrong birth date - this can be corrected using the information obtained from the school.All changes must be documented(see page 183 of the Manual). It is not permissible to change any other data. All data must be entered into the computer as given in the questionnaire and original data submitted to the Global Centre.
5.1 – 5.6These questions allow us to calculate the response rate and the participation rate of the schools and pupils. The answers to questions 5.5 and 5.6 will add up to the answer you gave for question 5.2.
6.1 – 6.13Translations of the English language questionnaire should have a uniform approach as per the instructions in the manual on page 124. If centres use a translation already developed, the Global Centre would like to know.
Thank you for reading this document and completing the Centre report.
Philippa EllwoodEamon EllwoodInnes Asher
GAN GlobalCentre: Email: or
Phone: +6499236451: Fax: +64 9 3737602
August 2015