Longitudinal study
hideA longitudinal study is a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time — often many decades. It is a type of observational study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the life span, and in sociology to study life events throughout lifetimes or generations. The reason for this is that unlike cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies track the same people, and therefore the differences observed in those people are less likely to be the result of cultural differences across generations. Because of this benefit, longitudinal studies make observing changes more accurate and they are applied in various other fields. In medicine, the design is used to uncover predictors of certain diseases. In advertising, the Communicus System, the design is used to identify the changes that advertising has produced in the attitudes and behaviors of those within the target audience who have seen the advertising campaign.
Because longitudinal studies are observational, in the sense that they observe the state of the world without manipulating it, it has been argued that they may have less power to detect causal relationships than do experiments. But because of the repeated observation at the individual level, they have more power than cross-sectional observational studies, by virtue of being able to exclude time-invariant unobserved individual differences, and by virtue of observing the temporal order of events.
Longitudinal studies allow social scientists to distinguish short from long-term phenomena, such as poverty. If the poverty rate is 10% at a point in time, this may mean that 10% of the population are always poor, or that the whole population experiences poverty for 10% of the time. It is not possible to conclude which of these possibilities is the case using one-off cross-sectional studies.
Types of longitudinal studies include cohort studies and panel studies. Cohort studies sample a cohort, defined as a group experiencing some event (typically birth) in a selected time period, and studying them at intervals through time. Panel studies sample a cross-section, and survey it at (usually regular) intervals.
A retrospective study is a longitudinal study that looks back in time. For instance a researcher may look up the medical records of previous years to look for a trend.
For more information about Longitudinal study, read the full article at
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News tagged with longitudinal study
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Healthy, older adults free of heart disease need not fear that bouts of rapid, irregular heartbeats brought on by vigorous exercise might increase short- or long-term risk of dying or having a heart attack, according to a ...
First ever large-scale study of ketamine users published
Nov 16, 2009 |
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The first ever large-scale, longitudinal study of ketamine users has been published online today in the journal Addiction. With Ketamine (K, Special K) use increasing faster than any other drug in the UK (British Crime ...
Fitness levels decline with age, especially after 45
Oct 26, 2009 |
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Men and women become gradually less fit with age, with declines accelerating after age 45, according to a report in the October 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, mainta ...
Continuing racial differences in HIV prevalence in US
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Oct 06, 2009 |
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HIV prevalence among African Americans is ten times greater than the prevalence among whites. This racial disparity in HIV prevalence has persisted in the face of both governmental and private actions, involving many billions ...
Study: Small Classes Give Extra Boost to Low-Achieving Students
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Small classes in early grades improve test scores in later grades for students of all achievement levels, but low achievers get an extra boost. That’s the finding of a study on the long-term effects of class ...
Smoking during pregnancy puts children at risk of psychotic symptoms
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 01, 2009 |
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Mothers who smoke during pregnancy put their children at greater risk of developing psychotic symptoms in their teenage years.
Physical inactivity poses greatest health risk to Americans, research shows
Aug 09, 2009 |
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As many as 50 million Americans are living sedentary lives, putting them at increased risk of health problems and even early death, a leading expert in exercise science told the American Psychological Association today.
Under a cloud -- darkness linked to 'brain drain' in depressed people
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jul 28, 2009 |
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A lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlig ...
Academic disengagement more common for US teens than Chinese
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jul 15, 2009 |
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In the United States, adolescence is a time when many teens become less interested in academics. A new longitudinal study has found that this disengagement is greater for American teens than for Chinese teens.
US seniors 'smarter' than their English peers: study
Jun 25, 2009 |
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U.S. seniors performed significantly better than their counterparts in England on standard tests of memory and cognitive function, according to a new study.
Family obligation in Chinese homes lowers teenage depression symptoms
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jun 04, 2009 |
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A new study of Chinese-American youth has found that family obligation, for example caring for siblings or helping elders, plays a positive role in the mental health of Chinese-American adolescents and may prevent symptoms ...
Low birth weight linked to psychosis-like symptoms
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
May 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Low birth weight babies are at greater risk of developing psychosis-like symptoms as they grow up, research suggests. The study, published in the June issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, shows a link ...
Center-based care and insensitive parenting may have lasting effects
May 15, 2009 |
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A growing number of American children are enrolled in child care and questions remain about how these settings may affect them in both positive and negative ways. A new study published in the May/June 2009 issue of the journal ...
Preschoolers' language development is partly tied to their classmates' language skills
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
May 15, 2009 |
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Young children learn how to speak and understand language from the words parents speak at home and teachers speak in preschool. A new longitudinal study has found that their preschool classmates also play a part.
Children who are depressed, anxious or aggressive in first grade risk being victimized later on
May 15, 2009 |
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Children entering first grade with signs of depression and anxiety or excessive aggression are at risk of being chronically victimized by their classmates by third grade. That's the finding of a new longitudinal study that ...
