Longitudinal Research Design: Methods and Examples

In case your research revolves around observing the same group of participants, you need to know well how to conduct longitudinal study. Today we’ll focus on this type of research data collection and find out which scientific areas require it. Its peculiar features and differences from other research types will also be examined. 

This article can help a lot with planning and organizing a research project over a long time period. Below you’ll find some tips on completing such work as well as a few helpful examples from a college paper writing service. Feel free to go on in case you aim to complete such work.

Let’s define ‘longitudinal study’ to begin with. This is an approach when data from the same respondents’ group is gathered repeatedly over a period of time. The reason why the same individuals are continuously observed over an extended period is to find changes and trends which can be analyzed.

This approach is essentially observational as you aren’t expected to influence the group’s parameters you are monitoring in any way. It is typically used in scope of correlational research which means collecting data about variables without assuming any dependencies. Let’s find out more about its usage and how much time it could take.

How long is a longitudinal study? It depends on your topic and research goals. In case characteristics of the subject are changing fast, it might be enough to take just a few measurements one by one. Otherwise, one might have to wait for a long time before measuring again.

So, such projects can take weeks or months but they also can extend over years or even decades. Studies like that are common in medicine, psychology and sociology, where it is important to observe how participants’ characteristics evolve.

Before actively engaging in longitudinal research, it is important to understand well what your next steps should be. Let’s define study subtypes that can be used for such research. They are:

Each of these subtypes has certain pros and cons. Gathering data yourself usually gives more confidence but it might be hard to contact the right individuals. Let’s discuss each point in detail. Likewise, you can pay someone to write my research paper.

When doing longitudinal studies of a certain group over a long period, you might find available data about them left from other researchers. Make sure to carefully examine sources of each dataset you decide to reuse. Otherwise previous researchers’ mistakes or bias may influence your results after you’ve analyzed that data.

However this approach could be very efficient in case the subject has already been investigated by different researchers. Their results could be compared and gaps or bias could be easier to eliminate. As a result, much time and effort could be saved.

When doing longitudinal studies without any significant predecessors’ works available, using your own data is the only reasonable way. This data is collected through surveys, measurement or observations. Thus you have more confidence in these results however this approach requires more time and effort. You need proper research design methods prior to starting the collection process.

If you choose such an approach, keep in mind that it has two major subtypes:

A longitudinal study can be applied to a wide range of cases. You need to adjust your approach, depending on a specific situation, subject’s peculiarities and your research goals.  There are three major research types you can use for continuous observation:

Let’s take a closer look at each type’s definition with our coursework writing service. Dive deep to learn how data is collected and what impact is made on results.

A cohort longitudinal study involves selecting a group based on some unique event which unifies them all. It can be their birth date, geographic location, or historical experience. So there are special relationships between that group’s members which play significant roles for the entire research process.

Such a peculiarity is to be carefully selected when doing test design and planning your test steps. Sometimes one unifying event may be more relevant or convenient than another.

This approach takes a special place among longitudinal studies as it involves conducting some historical investigations. As we’ve already mentioned above, during a retrospective, researchers have to make observations and measurements of past events. Collecting historical data and analyzing changes might be easier than tracking live data. However the development of such research design must include checking the credibility of datasets that were used for it.

A panel study involves sampling a cross-section of individuals. This approach is often used for collecting medical data. Such a study when performed continuously is considered more reliable compared to a regular cross sectional study and allows using smaller sample sizes, while still being representative. However, there are various problems that may occur during such studies, especially those which go on for decades. Particularly, such samples can be eventually eroded because of deaths, migration, fatigue, or even by development of response bias.

Longitudinal study design requires some serious planning to complete it properly. Keep in mind that your purpose is to directly address some individual change and variation cases. The target population should be chosen carefully so that results achieved through this study would be accurate enough.

Another key element is deciding about proper timing. For example you would need bigger intervals to ensure you detect important changes. At the same time, dissertation writers suggest that the intervals shouldn’t be too big. Otherwise, you might lose track of the actual trends within your target population.

Let’s review longitudinal study advantages and disadvantages. Better wrap your head around this information if you are still choosing an optimal approach for your own project. Any study that involves complicated planning and extensive techniques can have some downsides. It is common for them to come together with benefits. So pay close attention to the information below before deciding what method to choose to observe your research subject.

These are the benefits of longitudinal study:

This is the disadvantages of longitudinal study:

Let’s review some longitudinal study example which would be helpful for illustrating the above information.

In this article we’ve explored the longitudinal research notion and reviewed its main characteristics: