Psychology
Longitudinal Research
Longitudinal research involves studying the same group of individuals over an extended period to observe changes and continuity in their behavior, traits, or development. This method allows researchers to track patterns and identify causal relationships over time, providing valuable insights into how individuals change and develop.
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10 Key excerpts on "Longitudinal Research"
eBook - PDF- Brett Laursen, Todd D. Little, Noel A. Card, Brett Laursen, Todd D. Little, Noel A. Card(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- The Guilford Press(Publisher)
129 CHAPTER 8 Foundational Issues in Longitudinal Data Collection LEA PULKKINEN KATJA KOKKO Pioneering longitudinal studies demonstrated the value of a Longitudinal Research strategy to understanding individual development and the factors affecting it, and consequently this approach became common in developmental psychology. There are special challenges in the study of the same individuals over time, but guidelines for planning and conducting a longi- tudinal study are difficult to find. The present chapter discusses basic issues and practical problems, such as the researchers’ motivation and commitment to the study, timing of data collection, sample attrition, and validity of data, that should be considered before launching a longitudinal study. Much can be learned from previous studies. We start with conceptual definitions and a brief history of early longitudinal studies. A Brief History of Early Longitudinal Data Collections Longitudinal Research Strategy and the Concept of Development A longitudinal study refers to a research method that studies an individual across time with measurements at periodic intervals. For the study of individual development, it is necessary to collect data on a given characteristic (e.g., intelligence) of the same individual at different times (i.e., longitudinally). The term longitudinal study does not specify the duration of the study, which may vary from a few days to tens of years, nor the intervals of data collection, which may also vary from days to years, nor the frequency of data collection points. Rather, a linkage of time points provides longitudinal data; at least two time points are needed, as in Robins’s (1966) pioneering follow-up study of children attending a child guidance clinic. As noted by Rutter (1994), not all longitudinal data are prospective or real time. Data may also be “followed back” register data or “linked” register data, ethics permitting.
eBook - ePub- Emily Gilbert(Author)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
1 What is Longitudinal Research?Overview of content
This chapter will provide you with the fundamental and basic information about longitudinal studies. It will answer the key question, ‘What is a longitudinal study?’ and then explain the advantages and disadvantages of using a longitudinal methodology to conduct research.Some of the advantages and disadvantages introduced in this chapter will be expanded on further in separate chapters in this book, and this is signposted where necessary.As well as a practical explanation of longitudinal studies, the chapter will also provide a short introduction to one of the major theoretical issues associated with longitudinal studies – developing a theory of change.Learning outcomes
After you have read this chapter, you will be able to:- understand what a longitudinal study is;
- describe the benefits of carrying out research using a longitudinal methodology;
- describe the drawbacks of longitudinal studies;
- understand what a theory of change is.
What is a longitudinal study?
At its most basic, alongitudinal studyis one that follows the same subjects over time, taking repeated measures from them. By taking repeated measurements over time, a longitudinal study is a method by which to study change. Longitudinal studies can last weeks, months or even years. By following the same subjects for so long, researchers can see how different things change or stay the same over time, such as attitudes, behaviours, health conditions, educational or career paths, or relationships and family structure. This stability or change can also be looked at in relation to past events or experiences, establishing how certain events and experiences can impact on various outcomes.The subjects followed by longitudinal studies are called ‘sampling units’. Sampling units are the single items that make up the population of interest. Thepopulation
eBook - PDF- F. J. Mönks, Willard W. Hartup, Jan de Wit, F. J. Mönks, Willard W. Hartup, Jan de Wit(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
The number of assessments can be as small as two, but is more usually greater. The data provided by a longitudinal study therefore consist of a series of successive assessments of the same individuals. I would like to stress the two points: a series of assessments, and the same in- dividuals (see Schaie, 1972). In research with humans the period to be studied may be relatively short, such as the first two years of life, or the years spent in a kindergarten, or it may be much longer if one is concerned with tracing in- dividuals' characteristics over a substantial part of the life-span (e.g.·, from birth to maturity or during senescence), and even more so when the entire life-span or that of successive generations is the object of in- vestigation. The trouble with humans as longitudinal 23 C. B. HINDLEY subjects is not so much the absolute length of human life, as the fact that the life-span of the investiga- tor is likely to be of the same order as that of his research subjects. Hence the great attraction for us- ing such small animals as the rat (God's gift to psy- chologists) whose behavior from birth to death can be recorded over a matter of a year or two (cf. Carlson & Hoetzel, 1946; Lat, 1963, 1966; Scrimshaw & Gordon, 1968). The fact that this paper is devoted to long-term studies of humans must not be taken to imply any re- flection on the value of shorter term researches, or of life-span researches on animals. The choice is partly personal, in that I have been primarily con- cerned with long-term studies, and partly because many members of The International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development are interested in the study of change over substantial parts of the life-span. In any case, such studies raise most of the problems in a more extreme form than do shorter term studies. Practical Problems The most obvious problem of longitudinal studies has already been referred to, but this carries with it other implications.
eBook - PDFDevelopment in the Preschool Years
Birth to Age Five
- Thomas E. Jordan, Allen J. Edwards(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
Longitudinal Studies 2 This chapter will present information about longitudinal studies, a do- main of research that has become popular once more. The resurgence of interest is recognition that longitudinal data provide a way to understand important aspects of human situations. For students of development the first important data set is the set of growth measures gathered on his son by M . Gueneau de Montbeillard. The measures began with the boy's birth on 11 April 1 7 5 9 , and ended on 11 November 1 7 7 6 , when the boy was 16 years and 7 months (16:7). The values are recorded in the pre-metric units pieds, pouces, and lignes (foot, thumb [inch], and cord). This interesting data set was not published by de Montbeillard, but is extant because it appears in Sonnini's (1799) edition of the works of his colleague, Georges le Clerc, Comte de Buffon. De Montbeillard had previously helped Berryat with his 1 7 5 4 edition of the early proceedings of the Academie Royale des Sciences. Today, longitudinal study exercises the minds of people in a variety o f fields. In addition to studies in child development, there are major inquiries in schizophrenia (Sartorius, Jablonsky, 6c Shapiro, 1 9 7 7 ; Mednick, Schul- singer, & Venables, 1 9 7 9 ) , occupational choice (Parnes, 1 9 7 5 ) , and educa- tion (Fetters, 1 9 7 5 ) . In the abstract this is not surprising, since data over time can lead to fascinating insights. Concretely, there are many practical problems, and the challenge to organizational skill can be enormous. In the past, people used samples that were selected in part because they seemed 7 8 2. LONGITUDINAL STUDIES easy, comparatively speaking, to study. For example, the Oakland-Berkeley studies used protestant, middle-class white families. With equal facility, investigators have chosen to drop certain kinds of children as objects of study (probands).
eBook - PDF- Joachim F. Wohlwill, David S. Palermo(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
146 VII Longitudinal versus Cross-Sectional Methodology ceeding 4 or 5 years. Conversely, by limiting himself to a shorter time period, the researcher finds a much more problem-focused type of longitudinal re-search emerging, which also promises to yield a much higher return on the in-vestment, in terms of the gratification of the investigator as well as the advancement of his discipline. Yet the argument just suggested cannot be accepted as entirely valid; indeed, the advances which shortterm longitudi-nal research are making at present will undoubtedly themselves bring to the fore new problems demanding more long-term investigation, as insights into the operation of developmental processes multiply. But as we will see in the next section, compromises that may enable the developmental researcher to eat his cake in short-term fashion and still have it in the long-term sense, by an appropriate combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional methodolo-gies are possible. 2. TEST-RETEST EFFECTS One of the vexing problems facing longitudinal investigators is that of dealing with possible effects which may result from subjecting individuals to repeated tests or measures of some behavioral variable. The uncertainty principle which to some extent plagues all behavioral assessment—that is, the influence on the object of measurement of the act of measuring itself, or the experience of being examined, observed or tested—can become partic-ularly severe where a relatively large number of observations is to be ob-tained from the same individual. The obvious approach to determining the magnitude and direction of such effects consists in comparing longitudinal with cross-sectional data.
eBook - PDFA Girl's Childhood
Psychological Development, Social Change, and The Yale Child Study Center
- Deborah Weinstein, Linda C. Mayes, Stephen Lassonde(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Yale University Press(Publisher)
Nathan Goldfarb, a professor of business and marketing at Hofstra University, praised the method because “in terms of statistical reliability, the longitudinal design is preferable to the use of independent samples.” Similarly, researchers in other countries celebrated Longitudinal Research not just for what such programs could reveal, but for how they might reveal it. A British child psychiatrist writ-ing shortly after World War II was drawn to the longitudinal study’s potential to “produc[e] a more objective attitude in the study of behav-iour, particularly in the earliest years of life.” These were all qualities coveted by the postwar human sciences, and their presence in such re-search programs allowed practitioners to parry charges about the field’s supposed lack of rigor. Child psychiatrists took up longitudinal studies 56 A N D R E W M . F E A R N L E Y then as much for what they could reveal about children, as for the garb of scientific credibility that they could drape around their field. 43 The first thing that emerges from reading the work of those affiliated with the Yale study is the way they thought of themselves as pioneers. Some adopted this term explicitly, excitedly discussing their involve-ment in a “pioneer study,” and later referring to the research program as a “giant step” for psychoanalysis. 44 The Yale study, which was part of the first wave of sustained research within the American mental sci-ences, did in fact mark a new era in psychoanalytic, indeed psychiatric, science. Kris’s study began at a moment when, as one contemporary report noted, “psychiatry [did] not have a strong research tradition ori-ented to systematic, empirical investigation of important problems,” though the creation of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1949, and formation of the Journal of Psychiatric Research some years later, gradually adjusted those conditions.
eBook - PDF- Michael Brambring, Friedrich Lösel, Helmut Skowronek(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter(Publisher)
Problems of Longitudinal Studies with Children: Practical, Conceptual, and Methodological Issues Wolfgang Schneider 1. The Need for Longitudinal Studies in the Field of Develop-mental Psychology While there seems to be a broad consensus that developmental psychology should focus on changes occurring over time within the organism, the majority of research conducted in the field of developmental psychology has been based on a methodology inappropriate for the study of change (cf. McCall, 1977; Wohlwill, 1973, 1980). That is, most developmental studies cannot be con-sidered truly developmental because they used cross-sectional designs. Consequently, they focused on developmental differences among various age groups and ignored developmental changes within individuals over age which can only be assessed via longitudinal approaches. These criticisms represent serious challenges to the purpose of developmental psychology and the way its hypotheses are traditionally investigated and inter-preted (cf. Appelbaum and McCall, 1983). Although these criticisms have been around for a while, their impact on current research methodology has been negligible. For example, a recent review on studies conducted in the field of memory development revealed that more than 99 % of these studies have been cross-sectional in nature (cf. Schneider and Weinert, in press). Interestingly, this does not mean that researchers are still unaware of the problem: Calls for longitudinal studies are frequent in the developmental litera-ture. Given the discrepancy between theory and practice, however, one conclusion could be that there are also various problems with longitudinal studies serious enough to keep off many developmental researchers. The critical analysis of potential problems and possible coping strategies will be a major goal of this chapter.
eBook - PDFScientists Making a Difference
One Hundred Eminent Behavioral and Brain Scientists Talk about their Most Important Contributions
- Robert J. Sternberg, Susan T. Fiske, Donald J. Foss(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
First, Longitudinal Research is an inherently horizon-scanning enter- prise; we constantly try to anticipate new trends and ask new questions, even when it means waiting years to learn the result. For example, the Dunedin Study was first to interview children about hallucinations and delusions more than thirty years ago, and this paid off by yielding insights into origins of schizophrenia. Second, we have a track record as first adopters, incorporating new technologies into the cohort studies as soon as these became available. For example, we began collecting DNA in 1996; interviewed participants with life-history calendars based on advances in cognitive psychology; geocoded physical environments using Google Streetview; and worked with ophthalmologists to adopt retinal imaging as a tool to study brain health. Third, we believe that crossing disciplines boosts creativity. In graduate school, Terrie sought training in clinical psychology, criminology, and the neuropsychology of aging. Avshalom sought training in child develop- ment, life-course sociology, and personality psychology. We collaborate with economists, geneticists, criminologists, neuroscientists, and medical scientists, even dentists. Our research is most innovative when we make surprising data combinations across previously unconnected disciplines (addiction research and dentistry; neuropsychology and criminology; 254 Caspi, Avshalom, and Moffitt, Terrie E. cardiovascular research and economics). As a result, many of our highest- impact studies were not part of any grant, because they fall into the gaps between traditional disease-oriented funding agencies. Fourth, we get our ideas by paying close attention to the participants in our cohorts as they grow and change. For example, we cared deeply about puberty when the participants were adolescents, and now find ourselves caring more about cardiovascular health as they reach middle age. We constantly retool and retrain to keep up with our cohorts.
eBook - ePub- Leo B. Hendry, Marion Kloep(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Box 4.1 ), which at a general level boil down to two overarching questions: How does the same individual change over months and/or years (i.e. intra-individual or within-person change) and what are the causes of change (for a historical overview, see, e.g. Voelkle and Adolf, 2015). However, modern theories highlight (at least) two other rationales for Longitudinal Research: testing heterogeneity in developmental mechanisms (or inter-individual differences in the causes of intra-individual change) and assessing the non-stationarity of processes on different time scales (or changes in the cause(s) of intra-individual change over time). Could novel Longitudinal Research methods help researchers to set these conceptual steps?BOX 4.1 FIVE RATIONALES FOR Longitudinal Research1 The direct identification of intra-individual change2 The direct identification of differences in intra-individual change3 The analysis of interrelationships in behavioural change4 The analysis of cause of intra-individual change5 The analysis of causes of inter-individual differences of intra-individual change(Baltes and Nesselroade, 1979)As researchers nowadays, we have the luxury of an almost overflowing toolbox of analytical techniques for longitudinal data, each of them with fancy names such as latent growth curve models (LGCM), growth mixture models (GMM) or random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPM). Moreover, new methods of collecting data continually emerge. For instance, with almost every teenager being equipped with a smart phone nowadays, we no longer have to rely on assessments with long intervals (i.e. the photo-album of development). We can also track adolescents as they go through their daily lives, by asking several times a day how they are feeling, behaving, and interacting with others. These so-called experience sampling methods (ESM; Larson and Csikszentmihalyi, 1983) are not new, but are increasing in popularity at a quite rapid pace (Hamaker and Wichers, 2017). The intensive longitudinal data or time series data that result from ESM studies can be used to obtain a ‘flip-book’ of short-term developmental processes. But rather than bringing us an easy fix to finally grasp the developmental mechanisms described in ecological and dynamic theories of development, this increase in methodological possibilities might actually be positively correlated with an increase in confusion among researchers.
eBook - PDF- Todd D. Little(Author)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- The Guilford Press(Publisher)
In this section, I discuss and highlight some alternative ways to consider time that will assist you in thinking about the design of a longitudinal study. If done 2 Design Issues in Longitudinal Studies with a bit of forethought, a properly designed longitudinal study will improve your ability to capture the change process that you desire to model. For a very rich but challenging discussion of the issues that I touch on here, you can try to find a copy of Wohlwill’s (1973) classic book, The Study of Behavioral Development. More recent (and more approachable) discussions of the importance of mapping theory to meth- ods and methods to theory have emerged (see, e.g., Collins, 2006; Jaccard & Jacoby, 2020; Lerner, Schwartz, & Phelps, 2009; Ram & Grimm, 2007). Most developmentalists have been schooled that “behavior is a function of age:” B = ƒ(age). This way of thinking about developmental change processes is somewhat limited, however. First, age is not a causal variable and is really only a proxy of the multitude of effects that covary with maturation and experience (Wohlwill, 1973) and are partner effects in the context of influences like race/ethnicity, sexual orien- tation, and gender. In fact, age is probably best considered as an index of context. The context of behavior in the life of a 12-year-old Hispanic gay boy would have dif- ferent connotations than the context of behavior in the life of a 16-year-old African American transgendered girl. In addition, the historical timing of measurements is often neglected as a contextual impact. The widespread impact of social media and constant connectivity has even emerged as a new field of study, what Nilam Ram has described as Screenomics. Second, as Wohlwill notes with regard to age functions, “the particular form of this functional relationship is rarely taken seriously, let alone given explicit expres- sion” (p. 49).
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