What does longitudinal mean in research? Longitudinal survey are a type of panel survey that takes place in the field of research in general. This type of research is concerned with studying the variables that occur in the environment or humans over the passage of many years, so a single longitudinal panel survey may take many years.
A longitudinal survey data is a type of observational study, and unlike a cross-sectional study, it conducts repeated experiments on the same subject and compares the results with each other.
Longitudinal survey research is often used in the field of sociology to study the impact of events on generations, as they study the situation of the same person over time.
But otherwise, the result may be unsatisfactory in some cases, because of the changes that occur in the focus of the study, which is the human being.
Nor is a specific amount of time required to conduct the longitudinal survey research, as long as the participants are observed frequently. It can range from: as short as a few weeks to several decades. However, they usually last at least a year, and many times they are repeated several times.
What is longitudinal survey method?
The longitudinal survey is the systematic study of a group \” or groups\” of individuals over long periods of time, in other words: in a longitudinal panel survey, we have more than one measure of the behavior of the same individuals.
Since the behavior of one group” or groups” is assessed at different times, the extended \”longitudinal\” study provides findings about developmental trends, as the consistency and variability of growth patterns over time can be determined.
For Example, we can study the growth in performance in intelligence tests as Terman did when tracking the growth of a group of gifted children over 18 years, the ability to solve problems, or physical characteristics.
As Geisel did when tracking the growth of children from birth to the fifth, then the tenth, and comparing the growth trends (the change in age) with the simple differences in age.
As the extended longitudinal survey data is always a study of \”age change\”, it may fall at any of the remaining three dimensions poles.
longitudinal study advantage
- The longitudinal survey has several other advantages, as it cannot be used to examine the factors that affect behavior over a period of long periods of time only, in other words.
The extended study is ideal for examining the effects of cultural factors that need the passage of time before their effects on behavior can be known.
- Secondly, the longitudinal panel survey also shows continuities and generalities in behavior over time. It is crucial if the researcher wants to discover whether characteristics.
Such as intelligence, aggressiveness, dependency, or behavioral problems are consistent and stable over long periods of time. It is subject to volatility and oscillation.
longitudinal studies disadvantages
- The use of longitudinal survey has some shortcomings and obstacles, as they are very expensive, require a long time, and a large number of workers.
- And the researcher may only have a period of time limited time for full-time extended study, limited money to monitor group members, conduct and continue testing, and maintain interest.
- This, and sample fatigue may be a severe problem in extended longitudinal panel surveys, especially when they include elderly individuals, as individuals may lose interest, move and move to another place or die.
As a result, each test time the individual deals with a different sample, so the generality of the results may be called into question.
- Another drawback is that extended, \”longitudinal\” studies are difficult to replicate. Since repetition is one way to ensure that the results obtained are reliable, and this is a very serious reason, finally, introducing new testing procedures into an existing extension study is usually difficult.
What is the example of longitudinal survey?
If you want to carry out longitudinal survey data, you have two options: collect your own data (primary data) or use data already collected by someone else (secondary data). For many types of research, longitudinal survey research provide unique insight that may not be possible with other forms of research.
1- First example
If you want to study the relationship between smoking and stomach cancer. first performs a cross-sectional study to see if there is an association between smoking and stomach cancer, and discovers that an association is found in men but not in women.
then decided to design a longitudinal survey to further examine this relationship in men. Without the CT study first, you wouldn’t have been known to focus on men in particular.
2- Second example
In a retrospective study, you can look at patients\’ past medical records to see if those who had this cancer had ever smoked.
In a future study, it might follow a group of smokers and non-smokers over time to see if they had cancer before or would develop it independently.
3- Third example
A cross-sectional study of police influence on crime might find that more police are associated with greater crime and incorrectly conclude that police cause crime when the opposite is true.
However, a longitudinal survey would be able to note the rise or fall in crime at some point in time after the number of police in an area has increased.
Longitudinal panel survey also allows for repeated observations of the same individual over time. This means that any changes in the outcome variable cannot be attributed to differences between individuals.
What are some types of longitudinal surveys?
There are four basic types of longitudinal survey data: trend studies, cohort studies, team studies, and case studies. All four types of longitudinal survey research tend to be descriptive, in that they generally do not deal with variables.
A variable is any clearly described item or construct that can be It is observed and analyzed but describes how specific variables change over time and how those changes relate to other variables.
1- Trend studies
Trend studies examine changes within a specific population sample that do not remain static, for example, if a person is interested in changes in the amount of television or video exposure in preschoolers, they can survey a sample of preschoolers more frequently.
Over the course of several years, looking at the trend, the children sampled will change constantly, and it will measure the patterns of change in viewing exposure of a selected sample of the population, of children between the ages of 3 and 5, over time.
2- Team studies
Team studies examine changes over time within a selected sample that remains constant. For example, when an individual is interested in describing changes that occur over time as people age.
They can select a group of people and have them complete a variety of measures at repeated intervals over several decades.
The subjects in the study remain the same at each point of data collection, with natural attrition being the main reason for changing the panel sample.
3- Case studies
Case studies examine changes within organizations, groups, or individuals, often in relation to some intervention. The intervention can be training, a new policy or procedure, or an educational or treatment program.
For example, when a person is concerned about changes in an organization as a result of the introduction of a new technology training program.
They can collect a set of metrics from a sample of employees or students prior to introducing the program and then repeat the procedures at specified intervals, similar to a cohort study.
A case-based sample will remain stable in The case of employee or student samples in an institution or in the case of group or individual participants.
4- cohort studies
Attitude, cohort, and panel studies typically use instrumental measures, such as surveys, questionnaires, pen-and-paper tests, and other standard tools, that are supplemented by descriptive measures.
Studies based on descriptive measures, such as interviews, projective techniques, observations, and narration, are usually used and supplemented by instrumental measures.
What is the difference between a longitudinal and a cross-sectional survey?
Before knowing the difference between the longitudinal survey and the cross-sectional survey, it is necessary to know the advantages and disadvantages of each method separately:
longitudinal method
In this method, the researcher studies the manifestations of the psychological growth of an individual or a group of individuals in a specific period and tracks the development and change in their growth year after year or from one stage to another.
And records the development that occurs in them at different ages in relation to the different aspects of growth, and for this, it is described as longitudinal.
It takes many years to obtain information, and this method is the most appropriate method, especially in early childhood, when it is difficult to conduct tests.
Advantages of the longitudinal method
- They accurately monitor any increase in growth using growth curves.
- It allows an accurate analysis of aspects of development and provides the opportunity to know the effects of environmental and cultural variables on behavior and personality.
- It provides an opportunity to analyze relationships between processes.
Disadvantages of the longitudinal method
- Selective factors in the original sample: the individuals who participate in research of a nature that lasts for several years are selected mostly according to control factors, not random, and in this case, it is difficult to generalize the results of such longitudinal panel survey on the original community.
- The sequential decrease in the sample: We expect the number of respondents to decrease gradually
- The effect of repeating observations: The repeated practice of tests, increased familiarity with the research team, and uniting in one of the groups for a relatively long period of time may all affect the performance of the subject in the tests and his attitudes and motives.
cross-sectional method
In this method, the researcher studies groups of individuals at different age levels in order to study the developmental characteristics that characterize this age or developmental stage.
That he is studying without waiting long for their growth as in the longitudinal method, so this method is done by selecting large samples of individuals of different ages and from different stages.
Advantages of the cross-sectional method
- Save time and effort Less expensive than the longitudinal method Lead to quick results that can be carried out by one researcher Give a realistic picture of the characteristics of children at different ages.
Disadvantages of the transversal method
- Selective factors in different samples: different age groups may not be comparable due to the effects of successive selective factors, and the impact of these factors appears especially when research is conducted on pupils and students.
- Historicism: this method lacks the historical meaning that is the essence of research in growth, as it is limited to studying a single individual at a specific point in time, and therefore does not provide us with information about the historical precedents of behavior.
- The difference in the balance of experience: there may not be a degree of comparison between different stocks of experience in different age groups being studied at a given point in time, and it is impossible to obtain samples of different ages at a given time
- Group comparison: this method only allows drawing the curves of the averages in question, because people are different at each age level of the research, and in this case, it is impossible to draw individual curves.
But such a procedure may hide important differences between individuals on the one hand and within individuals, on the other hand, Drawing collective curves may result in these differences fading or disappearing.
In the end: It is useful to combine these two methods (cross-sectional and longitudinal survey), so we use the cross-sectional method as an exploratory study to reach practical hypotheses that can be returned by the longitudinal panel survey.
To summarize
the use of longitudinal survey data in the research process is very important, and it has many advantages, but it is used within a limited scope, for example in the field of sociology.
Where the longitudinal survey research is concerned with examining the variables over long periods of time, and on the other hand, longitudinal survey research may not give accurate results.
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