The Pros And Cons Of A Longitudinal Study

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Longitudinal design studies study participants repeatedly and changes are noted as participants get older. This type of research tracks the performance of each person over time and creates common patterns and individual differences that can be identified and used by researchers as well as being able to examine relationships these individuals have and the events and behaviors surrounding them. (Berk, 2014) Longitudinal studies have some downfalls though. Participants being studied over a long period of time may move away or drop out of the study altogether. As participants age they become more in tune with themselves and may change their feelings, actions or thoughts in ways that have nothing to do with age related change. There is another way to jeopardize longitudinal study findings called the cohort effect. This is when a group of individuals born in the same time period are…show more content…
(Berk, 2014) This type of study is a one time measurement and problems like drop out or moving away are of no concern. This type of study results in age related trends. One problem with this type of study is that comparisons are limited to age-group averages. (Berk, 2014) The cohort effect can also jeopardize cross sectional studies in such a way that a twenty year old in two thousand and one and a twenty year old in two thousand and twelve may reflect experiences related to the historical period they grew up in instead of age related experiences. Sequential designs help to overcome limitations of traditional developmental designs, in which researchers conduct several similar cross sectional or longitudinal studies, referred to as sequences. Sequential designs may include studying participants of the same age but in different years or participants of different ages during the same years. (Berk, 2014) By using this design researchers can be more confident about their

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