A cross-sequential design is a research method that combines both a longitudinal design and a cross-sectional design. It aims to correct for some of the problems inherent in the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. [1]
A research design is the set of methods and procedures used in collecting and analyzing measures of the variables specified in the research problem research. The design of a study defines the study type and sub-type, research problem, hypotheses, independent and dependent variables, experimental design, and, if applicable, data collection methods and a statistical analysis plan. A research design is a framework that has been created to find answers to research questions.
A longitudinal study is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over short or long periods of time. It is often a type of observational study, although they can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiments.
In medical research and social science, a cross-sectional study is a type of observational study that analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset, at a specific point in time—that is, cross-sectional data.
In a cross-sequential design (also called an "accelerated longitudinal" or "convergence" design), a researcher wants to study development over some large period of time within the lifespan. Rather than studying particular individuals across that whole period of time (e.g. 20–60 years) as in a longitudinal design, or multiple individuals of different ages at one time (e.g. 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 years) as in a cross-sectional design, the researcher chooses a smaller time window (e.g. 20 years) to study multiple individuals of different starting ages. An example of a cross-sequential design is shown in the table below.
cohort | age | ||
---|---|---|---|
A | 20 | 25 | 30 |
B | 25 | 30 | 35 |
C | 30 | 35 | 40 |
D | 35 | 40 | 45 |
E | 40 | 45 | 50 |
F | 45 | 50 | 55 |
G | 50 | 55 | 60 |
year of measurement: | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 |
In this table, over a span of 10 years, from 1990 to 2000, 7 overlapping cohorts with different starting ages could be studied to provide information on the whole span of development from ages 20 to 60.
This design has been used in studies to investigate career trajectories in academia [2] and other phenomena.
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why human beings change over the course of their life. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. Developmental psychologists aim to explain how thinking, feeling, and behaviors change throughout life. This field examines change across three major dimensions: physical development, cognitive development, and socioemotional development. Within these three dimensions are a broad range of topics including motor skills, executive functions, moral understanding, language acquisition, social change, personality, emotional development, self-concept, and identity formation.
Demography is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. As a very general science, it can analyze any kind of dynamic living population, i.e., one that changes over time or space. Demography encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death. Based on the demographic research of the earth, earth's population up to the year 2050 and 2100 can be estimated by demographers. Demographics are quantifiable characteristics of a given population.
A field of applied statistics of human research surveys, survey methodology studies the sampling of individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey data collection, such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and accuracy of responses to surveys. Survey methodology includes instruments or procedures that ask one or more questions that may or may not be answered.
A cohort study is a particular form of longitudinal study that samples a cohort, performing a cross-section at intervals through time. While a cohort study is a panel study, a panel study is not always a cohort study as individuals in a panel study do not always share a common characteristic.
In statistics and econometrics, panel data or longitudinal data are multi-dimensional data involving measurements over time. Panel data contain observations of multiple phenomena obtained over multiple time periods for the same firms or individuals.
Clinical study design is the formulation of trials and experiments, as well as observational studies in medical, clinical and other types of research involving human beings. The goal of a clinical study is to assess the safety, efficacy, and / or the mechanism of action of an investigational medicinal product or procedure, or new drug or device that is in development, but potentially not yet approved by a health authority. It can also be to investigate a drug, device or procedure that has already been approved but is still in need of further investigation, typically with respect to long-term effects or cost-effectiveness.
The apparent-time hypothesis is a sociolinguistic construct, which assumes that most features of language are acquired during childhood and remain relatively unchanged throughout an individual's lifetime once that individual is past a certain age. Therefore, a speaker's speech is a reflection of speech patterns acquired during language learning as a child. The apparent-time hypothesis can be considered to be a form of synchronic analysis, where language is analyzed for a particular moment in time, in contrast to diachronic analysis, also known as historical linguistics.
Adult development encompasses the changes that occur in biological and psychological domains of human life from the end of adolescence until the end of one's life. These changes may be gradual or rapid, and can reflect positive, negative, or no change from previous levels of functioning. Changes occur at the cellular level and are partially explained by biological theories of adult development and aging. Biological changes influence psychological and interpersonal/social developmental changes, which are often described by stage theories of human development. Stage theories typically focus on “age-appropriate” developmental tasks to be achieved at each stage. Erik Erikson and Carl Jung proposed stage theories of human development that encompass the entire life span, and emphasized the potential for positive change very late in life.
In research of human subjects, a survey is a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a particular group of people. Surveys may be conducted by phone, mail, via the internet, and sometimes face-to-face on busy street corners or in malls. Surveys are used to increase knowledge in fields such as social research and demography.
A retrospective cohort study, also called a historic cohort study, is a longitudinal cohort study used in medical and psychological research. A cohort of individuals that share a common exposure factor is compared with another group of equivalent individuals not exposed to that factor, to determine the factor's influence on the incidence of a condition such as disease or death. Retrospective cohort studies have existed for approximately as long as prospective cohort studies.
Repeated measures design is a research design that involves multiple measures of the same variable taken on the same or matched subjects either under different conditions or over two or more time periods. For instance, repeated measurements are collected in a longitudinal study in which change over time is assessed.
The Revised NEO Personality Inventory is a personality inventory that examines a person's Big Five personality traits. In addition, the NEO PI-R also reports on six subcategories of each Big Five personality trait.
The German Ageing Survey (DEAS) is a main source of information about ageing and old age as a stage of life in Germany. It is a nationally representative, cross-sectional and longitudinal survey of people in the second half of life . The comprehensive study of people in their mid- and older adulthood provides individual data for use both in social and behavioural scientific research and in reporting on social developments. The data is thus a source of information for political decision makers, the general public and for scientific research. The DEAS allows to form a comprehensive picture of life situations and life contexts of old and ageing people in Germany and to respond to current political and academic questions.
Ethnic identity development or ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development includes the identity formation in an individual's self-categorization in, and psychological attachment to, (an) ethnic group(s). Ethnic identity is characterized as part of one’s overarching self-concept and identification. It is distinct from the development of ethnic group identities.
Some debates have pervaded the field of psychology since its genesis. Perhaps one of the most salient ones deals with the nature of personality. Personality psychology studies one's distinctive style of cognition, behavior, and affect. However, this concept elicits discord among psychologists as some have insisted that it does not exist, while others struggle with issues of measurement.
Occupational epidemiology is a subdiscipline of epidemiology that focuses on investigations of workers and the workplace. Occupational epidemiologic studies examine health outcomes among workers, and their potential association with conditions in the workplace including noise, chemicals, heat, or radiation, or work organization such as schedules.
This statistics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |