American Families in Later Life: Call for Survey Items

2026 Call for Survey Items: American Families in Later Life

Proposal Submission Deadline: March 2, 2026
Expected Date of Initial Notification: April 2026 
Expected Date of Data Collection: September 2026

Description of American Families in Later Life Program

The American Families in Later Life program is a sample of adults aged 50-84 from the American Population Panel, an ongoing panel of people who have signed up to participate in online surveys. The panel includes over 50,000 people in all 50 states. The APP is maintained and supported by CHRR at Ohio State University.

For the American Families in Later Life program, CAF will commission a sample of 1,200 adults aged 50-84 living in the U.S. to respond to a short survey. Scholars at CAF institutions can propose questions to be added to this survey to support innovative research on aging families. The resulting data can be used to test new measures, provide pilot data for a larger project, or address new research questions.

Applicants can submit up to 10 survey items, although priority will be given to projects requiring fewer items. The survey will include basic demographic information (age, sex, race-ethnicity, education, state of residence, veteran status); any other demographic information needed should be included in the 10 submitted items.

Eligible Applicants

Tenured or tenure-track faculty and research scientists with principal investigator eligibility at Bowling Green State University, Ohio State University, or Purdue University, at any career stage, are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to CAF affiliates. Applications involving investigators from more than one of the CAF institutions are especially encouraged.

Projects must address one or more of the CAF research themes. Scholars considering a submission to the CAF APP Pilot program are strongly encouraged to reach out to CAF co-director Sarah Hayford (hayford.10@osu.edu) before applying to ensure that their proposal fits within the goals of the program.  

Required Application Materials 

  1. Scientific proposal including:
    • Title page listing project title, applicant(s), and institution(s)
    • Background and motivation (approximately two pages): what is the scientific goal of collecting these data and how will the proposed survey items advance this goal.
    • Proposed survey items: exact text, including response options. Open-ended questions are possible, but priority will be given to closed-ended questions. If survey items are drawn from existing surveys, provide the source. Include any pretest results or supporting documentation for the items.
    • Target sample for data collection: any inclusion criteria beyond those already specified by the CAF sample (U.S. adults aged 50-84). Proposals that include the full sample will be given higher priority for funding.
    • References/works cited
    • Explanation of how this proposal relates to CAF theme(s) (approximately ¼ page)
    • Proposed products and expected next steps (approximately ½ page): planned analyses, goals for publications or presentations, contributions to investigators’ new or ongoing research agenda, anticipated future data collection, potential applications for external funding, etc.
    • Optional: explanation of how the proposed survey items will be used by the scientific community beyond the team of applicants. Data from the American Families in Later Life Program will be made publicly available after a short embargo period; items that are of broad scientific interest will be given higher priority than those likely to be used only by the applicants. You may include brief letters of interest from other scholars and/or suggestions of scientific communities who would be interested in using the proposed survey items.
  2. References/works cited
  3. NIH biosketch (following NIH guidelines) for all applicants

Submit required application and materials using this Qualtrics link

Terms and Conditions of Award

CHRR and CAF will manage data collection, including applying for IRB approval. Applicants may be asked to provide supporting material for these efforts; these materials are not required at the time of application. CHRR and CAF may also request adjustments to items to conform with survey best practices.

Data collected through the program will be made publicly available after a short embargo period, in accordance with NIH data sharing policies. All publications and presentations resulting from data collected through the program should acknowledge CAF and its funding from the National Institute on Aging (P30AG096979).

If data collected through the program are used to support the submission of proposals for external funding, CAF should be included in any distribution of indirect costs associated with the external award. Please contact CAF co-director Sarah Hayford at the time of submission to discuss specifics.

More About the CAF 

The Center for Aging Families is a collaboration among scholars at Bowling Green State University, Ohio State University, and Purdue University, supported by a P30 center grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). CAF advances research and scholarship on the multifaceted experiences of aging families. We are particularly focused on fostering innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the dynamics, challenges, and opportunities that aging families encounter—including family demography, health and well-being, and caregiving. As part of our mission, we are committed to supporting the next generation of scholars who are dedicated to this important field of study.  

Questions? Email agingfamilies@bgsu.edu

Updated: 01/15/2026 08:35AM