case study and longitudinal research

Patricia (Site 3): Is there a bell you ring prior in case the patient is being bathed? Morris: Yes. You’ll hear the motor of the camera move. We’ll click and show our picture. Somewhere in there, they will press a button and it will ring a doorbell. Patricia: Perfect Morris: At night, we don’t do that. We surveyed our customer clinicians. Patricia: Did you have to put up a disclaimer or any notification that cameras are being used? Morris: We give a brochure to the staff. It is a VA Telehealth rule that all patients have to consent to the video. Our nurses have a script of what they say and they’ll get consent for the audio portion of the ICU. Less than 1% of all patients refuse the [Tele-CC]. No reason to refuse, they are getting additional physicians looking over them. Does not preclude your nurses from connecting with us, just we can’t camera into the room. (Fieldnote, Clinical Implementation Call, July 11, 2017; all names are pseudonyms)

The import of Patricia’s question, “ Is there a bell you ring prior in case the patient is being bathed ,” and Morris’s response, “ You’ll hear the motor … we’ll click and show our picture … they will press a button and it will ring a doorbell ,” is not clear until the Clinical Process Design Workshop (CPDW) event 3 months later, when we participated in a conversation with Patricia and her colleague to create workflows. Our fieldnotes read,

after [an external facilitator] explained that the doorbell would sound after the [Tele-CC] nurse was in the process of camera-ing in, and that bedside staff wouldn’t have direct decision making about whether or not to permit this access … the major concern she [Patricia] mentioned was privacy for patients. [Her colleague from Site 3] replied that it would probably be similar to how people walk in and out of rooms at the hospital when rounding on patients, potentially walking in on them in moments when privacy would have been preferred. Patricia responded to this by saying in a flat tone, “Not in my ICU.” (Fieldnote CPDW, September 2017)

“they [the Tele-CC staff] don’t like to ring the doorbell, middle of the night to check on the patient. I want them to and they went back and forth about this … it’s like I kept saying to them, when I go into a patient’s room, I knock on the door. So that’s why I want you to ring the doorbell … you know, if I’m going into a patient’s room just with the curtains drawn, I’m gonna knock, I’m gonna say, ‘This is the nurse … [okay] if I stick my head in?’ You know? And they’ll say yes or no … but that’s the same thing I want the courtesy of the, of the doorbell.” (Site 3 T1, RN ICU)

During Go-Live, Morris oriented staff to Tele-CC through training sessions with small groups. After a brief lecture about the history of Tele-CC, Morris encouraged bedside staff to practice engaging with the Tele-CC by hitting the green button newly installed in each ICU room. In encouraging engagement with the Tele-CC, Morris specifically mentioned the doorbell. A fieldnote from one of these small groups describes his characterization of the doorbell:

Morris explains that … the hub staff can call in to the room from their end but will not do so without using a “doorbell” to buzz in to let staff and patients know that they are doing so. The camera will also rotate into the room to alert patients and on-site staff when hub staff call in. Morris has both [trainees] practice answering potential questions from patients and visitors about the cameras and the Tele-CC program along the lines of: “What is that thing? Why is it in here?” Morris also asks them to respond to a patient saying, “I don’t want it spying on me,” to which [the trainees] reply that it won’t do that. (Site 1 T1, Fieldnote)

Morris’ admonition to the trainees presages the implication of Patricia’s question about “ putting up a disclaimer or any notification about cameras,” which became visible 6 months post implementation (June 2018). Patricia had left her position, but another internal facilitator from Site 3, Forrest, who had attended the Clinical Process Design Workshop with Patricia, relayed how,

“[if] there’s no nurse in the room and there’s the [Tele-CC] nurse practitioner, you know, and the patient’s like, ‘What? I can’t hear you,’ … [and] we [the ICU nurses] didn’t hear the doorbell and then we didn’t answer it … I think that those are the kinds of opportunities we have to ensure that it’s a good patient experience … Many of our patients come post-operatively where they’re not able to be oriented [to the Tele-CC] and they could be very confused … that all of a sudden somewhere out of space a voice is coming from this thing on the wall” (Site 3 T2, MD ICU)

Retrospectively piecing together the arc of the implementation process by threading a narrative through mentions of a material object (e.g., a doorbell) was a way to re-situate ourselves in the flow of the original timeline of implementation. We developed a sense of what the doorbell was connected to (i.e., concerns about surveillance). As a result, we anticipated that looking for when people talked about the doorbell during our interviews 6-months post implementation might help us understand how conversations about surveillance changed, and also how these conversations differed across sites. Our “good case history” helped us contextualize and better understand discussions at 6-months. Looking retrospectively was a way to understand prospectively.

Horizontal (Cross-Sectional) Exposure (6-months post implementation at Site 1, Site 2, and Site 3)

Each of these threads of Patricia’s concerns were borne out amongst the ICU staff at six-months post implementation with bedside staff at Site 3. Nurses at Site 3 relayed how,

“They’re supposed to ring the doorbell. I don’t know if we don’t hear the doorbell? But we certainly don’t know when they’re gonna just pop in, usually. (Site 3 T2, RN2)

“We were under the impression … when it first got initiated, there was going to be a doorbell before any camera turning, any monitor pop … and they were supposed to talk, for instance, “Is it okay if we come in?” and that is not the case.” (Site 3 T2 RN5)

“There’s been at least three instances where they have just come in while I’ve had a patient either on the commode or standing there urinating, and I was under the impression that we could deny them entry—[P2: (overlapping) That they’re supposed to … ring a doorbell.] … Well, the doorbell rings, but then it just turns off. [P2: Oh, I don’t even hear it, yeah] … Y-you got the green button, but there should also be a red button, so if you hear the chime, you can push the red button and they WON’T come in.” (Site 3 T2 RN6 & RN 7)

Not all ICU nurses shared the perspective of the nurses at Site 3. At Site 1, we engaged two bedside nurses, who had not been internal facilitators during the implementation, in the following conversation about the doorbell at 6-months post implementation:

“[I1: We’ve heard from several different folks we’ve talked to across sites that there’s anxiety about [Tele-CC] just camera-ing into the room without calling first or ringing the doorbell. Because you had that previous set of interactions with them, has that anxiety waned?] P1: It does still surprise us sometimes when we hear a voice in there and we’ll think, “Oh, I didn’t hear the doorbell,” [I1: Yeah.] you know, so [P2: (Overlapping) Hmm yeah] sometimes the doorbell … doesn’t ring … and so they’ve [P2: Yeah.] caught us off-guard. Sometimes we’ll be in there moving a patient or something and they’ll [P2: Oh!] uh (chuckles) … We know that they will um pop in between, say, eight o’clock and nine or ten [P2: Mm-hmm.] and do an assessment on the patient, so when we hear that we’re used to hearing ‘em, but we just don’t, a lotta times don’t hear the doorbell

[I1: I see so when you hear ‘em, what do you hear?] P1: Just voices talking … They talk to the patients … [and we wonder to each other] Is that your patient? Who are they talking to? (chuckles) And then we realize it’s probably [Tele-CC] that they’re talking to

[I1: Okay so walk me through that.] P1: (Laughs) Well just sometimes it, you know, it’s eight, nine o’clock and you’ll hear someone that you-- and you’re wonderin’, is their family member in with that patient or, you know, something like that and then we kinda listen to the conversation a little bit because the [Tele-CC] has a sound, you know, [P2: Hmm.] it’s uh-- doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? It’s different than just some-- just us— [ P2: (Overlapping) Yeah, tell it’s on a speaker.] P1: Yes … Kind of an echo. [P2: Like, now if you’re listening to a radio or something, you can tell they’re-- --not right beside you. It’s--] P1: It’s a different kind of sound [P2: Mm-hmm.]. P1: It’s a different conversation than us just talking... we don’t hear it all the time, you know, and so we-we haven’t learned to assimilate it into our-our book of sounds

[I1: What does that feel like to know that there’s another presence kind of like paying attention to all of the … ] P1: (Pause) At first, it was a little uh anxious, or a little irritating just because someone else is coming in and havin’ eyes on your patient, but their-- they don’t, they don’t butt in [I1: Okay.] is what I have found. They don’t butt into the care that I’m giving.” (Site 1 T2 RN Night Shift)

At Site 2, nurses we spoke with did not mention the doorbell when they reflected on how Tele-CC staff entered patient rooms and initiated conversations. One nurse remembered how,

“I mean uh you know [they have] popped in and you know ‘how’s he doing and how’s this and how’s that.’ And converse with the people who are there. I mean I, like I said I’m fine with it. Some people I think, were very apprehensive about it. But even the people that were very apprehensive, I think that after they got used to it, they didn’t care. I mean [the Tele-CC staff] would go on ahead and they were popping in on the patients. And you know when someone’s got their door closed like over here, and the family member’s in there and that shade is pulled. Guess what? You know [Tele-CC] pops in and of course they’re gonna flag us if there’s a problem. So that’s a good thing to have.” (Site 2 T2 RN3)

Ultimately, staff at Site 3 wanted to be able to limit Tele-CC virtual entry into their ICU rooms. Staff at Site 1 and Site 2, despite having some similar misgivings about the shifting dynamic of relationships between the Tele-CC, ICU, and patient, did not feel the same way. At Site 3, the conversation hardened around hearing or not hearing the doorbell, and wanting the opportunity to hear the doorbell. At Site 1, the staff also missed the sound of the doorbell, but focused instead on how the “different kind of sound” produced by the Tele-CC signaled “a different conversation” at the bedside. Staff at Site 2 did not mention the doorbell when they recollected interactions with the Tele-CC, but they also noticed the sound of the conversation between the Tele-CC and patient; what is more, they perceived how the Tele-CC could help them circumvent barriers to entering the room (e.g., closed doors, pulled shades) that the patient and family sometimes imposed.

The ICU is a place full to bursting with sounds. Patients risk developing “ICU delirium” as a result, in part, of the sounds associated with continuous monitoring of vital signs [ 56 ] and some nurses we spoke to talked about having a “book of sounds.” We witnessed nurses respond strategically to different sounds; turning off some “alarms,” but noticing immediately and acting decisively when a sound indicated a patient was in trouble. The sound of the doorbell was new. As a noise in the ICU, the chime was an unfamiliar aural presence [ 57 , 58 ] that inadvertently encouraged nurses to notice other foreign presences accompanying the implementation of the Tele-CC.

By “recovering [the doorbell] archaeologically and interrogating [the doorbell] ethnographically” [ 21 ], we have demonstrated the utility of the STS case study as a contribution of ethnography to implementation science. While ethnography exposes the mundane particularities of an implementation, science and technology studies (STS) helps us think about how those things come to matter. Specifically, STS case-studies contribute to the literature on longitudinal qualitive research (LQR) in implementation science, including pen portraits [ 4 ] and periodic reflections [ 3 ]. Like periodic reflections and pen portraits, the STS case-study provides a way to engage with the complexity of an implementation process by tracing changes over time through interviews and observations. However, the form of an STS case-study is unique. Rather than a clean case summary, it is more like a complex case history full of the mundane bits and pieces like those pointed out by Mol and Law; here, rather than “beans, blood, [and] table companions,” we followed brochures, cameras, buttons, chimes, motors, curtains, and voices [ 16 ].

Both ICU and Tele-CC staff enter patient rooms, but they do with different tools, with different “stuff.” Bedside nurses have a curtain or a door; Tele-CC nurses have a camera that turns around and a chime they call a “doorbell.” Entering patients’ rooms implicates cameras, chimes, motors, curtains, and voices, and negotiations about how to use this stuff, sparks concerns about how ICU and Tele-CC nurses differently acknowledge movement from the communal space in the ICU to the intimate space of the patient’s room. The material stuff associated with the presence of the Tele-CC (e.g., the camera, speaker, and monitor) are already located in the patient’s room, and so we must think differently about how a Tele-CC nurse could be noticed moving from communal to private.

Though labor intensive, the components of ethnography (e.g., participant observation, fieldnotes, archival research, and interviews) generate a field of data that can be analyzed archaeologically (e.g., across and within sites, at one moment in time and over time) and as a consequence allow us to notice tacit and implied beliefs that impact an implementation process. As researchers, we did not initially know to ask about the doorbell, and it was only after combing through our fieldnotes and collected documents that we were able to trace conversations about the doorbell to planning and educating materials pre-implementation, and then forward to conversations among ICU staff 6-months post-implementation. Anchored by the material, the heterogeneity of an STS case-study generates questions (e.g., why did Patricia demand the doorbell be rung at night? Is she concerned about privacy for her staff, or the patients, or both?) and encourages exploring differences (e.g., how did nurses at Site 1 let go of wanting the sound of the doorbell and embrace the different sounds of the Tele-CC? When did the nurses at Site 2 begin to see the Tele-CC as a way for them to see into the room?). Begun early enough, the STS case-study method, like periodic reflections, can serve to iteratively inform data collection for researchers and implementors.

Tele-CC staff need a metaphor that positions the Tele-CC differently vis à vis the ICU (e.g., not a doorbell, but maybe an “arrival chime”). Terming the sound a “doorbell” implies that ICU staff may not permit Tele-CC to enter the room, much like when someone rings a doorbell at a house and the owner chooses whether to invite entry. In our context, the Tele-CC are part of the standard of care (i.e., Tele-CC cannot be denied entry into a patient’s room). Tele-CC staff recognize that ICU staff have a strong sense of autonomy in their practice and they wonder if using the term “doorbell,” and thus (incorrectly) implying that ICU staff can deny Tele-CC staff entry in to the room, creates uncertainty among ICU staff related to their own autonomy and the authority of the Tele-CC. The goal is to initiate contact with a sound that signals collaboration and partnership. Future research should explore how one negotiates virtual entry to an intimate, private space in a way that fosters teamwork.

Limitations

Our study has several limitations. First, teamwork between ICU and Tele-CC staff is so complex that 6-months is not enough time for Tele-CC and bedside staff to become familiar or comfortable with each other; in fact, it could take longer than 6 years to build trustful relationships [ 59 ]. Our data collection plan ended at 6-months post-implementation, so we did not have the opportunity to observe and learn about how staff interacted with the doorbell in the context of more trusting relationships between the ICU and Tele-CC staff. Secondly, we have no information about how patients perceive the sound of the doorbell. Finally, we do not have data gleaned from interview guides informed directly by our new understanding of the import of the doorbell. If we had the opportunity to go back to these sites, we could ask them questions that might draw out this information. However, using the STS-case study method, we were able to denote a pattern that may indicate that staff who are normalizing the sounds associated with Tele-CC may be exhibiting higher levels of acceptance of Tele-CC a part of their practice.

The STS case-study is a tool for implementors to use when a piece of material culture is an essential component of implementation. In the context of an ethnographic process evaluation of the implementation of Tele-CC services in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, the STS case-study helped us realize that we must think differently about how a Tele-CC nurse could be noticed moving from public to private space. The next step in the development of the STS case-study research method is to develop tools that will guide implementers through the STS case-study method to determine systematically how material culture can reveal implementation barriers and direct attention to potential solutions that address tacit, deeply rooted challenges to innovations in practice and technology.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Clinical Process Design Workshop

Intensive Care Unit

Longitudinal Qualitative Research

Science and Technology Studies

Tele-Intensive Care Unit (previously abbreviated as Tele-ICU)

Train the Trainer

Veterans Affairs

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge technical support for transcription and qualitative data processing from Monica Paez, Vu-Thuy Nguyen, Elizabeth Newbury, and Chelsea Hicks. We also wish to express our appreciation for the VA staff who participated in this study to inform the implementation of tele-critical care. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the VA Office of Rural Health for funding the tele-critical care evaluation.

Funding provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health, Veterans Rural Health Resource Center- Iowa City (Award 14385). Visit www.ruralhealth.va.gov to learn more. Support is also provided by the Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Service through the Center for Access and Delivery Research and Evaluation (CADRE) (CIN 13–412). The Department of Veterans Affairs had no role in the analysis or interpretation of data or the decision to report these data in a peer-reviewed journal. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.

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Contributions

We have 7 authors. We worked as a research team. The PI for this project was HSR. As such, she provided substantial contributions to the conception and design for data collection; she also revised the paper for important intellectual content. The research team for this project consisted of JVT, JF, and JM. As such, they provided substantial contributions to the design of data collection and acquisition of data, as well as providing revisions to early drafts of the article. JM and JVT contributed to the interpretation of the data through conceptual framing and theoretical expertise during the analysis. JW, LF, and RP served as subject matter experts in the field of critical care and Tele-CC. All authors contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data at various stages, though the analysis for this paper was led by JVT. Every author participated in the revising and drafting of this final manuscript and approved this version for submission for publication. Every author agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jennifer M. Van Tiem .

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This research was approved by the University of Iowa Institutional Review Board (IRB # 201311734). Informed consented obtained from study participants was verbal. We provided a written information sheet with the elements of consent to all participants, but did not require their signature. This procedure was approved by our IRB.

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Supplementary Information

Additional file 1:..

Workflow for “Camera Etiquette”

Additional file 2:.

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Van Tiem, J.M., Schacht Reisinger, H., Friberg, J.E. et al. The STS case study: an analysis method for longitudinal qualitative research for implementation science. BMC Med Res Methodol 21 , 27 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-021-01215-y

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What Is a Longitudinal Study?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology.

Amanda Tust is a fact-checker, researcher, and writer with a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

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Potential Pitfalls

Frequently asked questions.

A longitudinal study is a type of correlational research study that involves looking at variables over an extended period of time. This research can take place over a period of weeks, months, or even years. In some cases, longitudinal studies can last several decades.

Longitudinal design is used to discover relationships between variables that are not related to various background variables. This observational research technique involves studying the same group of individuals over an extended period.

Data is first collected at the outset of the study, and may then be repeatedly gathered throughout the length of the study. Doing this allows researchers to observe how variables change over time.

For example, imagine that a group of researchers is interested in studying how exercise during middle age could affect cognitive health as people age. The researchers hypothesize that people who are more physically fit in their 40s and 50s will be less likely to experience cognitive declines in their 70s and 80s.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers recruit a group of participants who are in their mid-40s to early 50s. They collect data related to how physically fit the participants are, how often they work out, and how well they do on cognitive performance tests. Periodically over the course of the study, the researchers collect the same types of data from the participants to track activity levels and mental performance.

Longitudinal studies are usually observational in nature, and are a type of correlational research . Longitudinal research is often contrasted with cross-sectional research . While longitudinal research involves collecting data over an extended period of time, cross-sectional research involves collecting data at a single point in time.

One of the earliest examples of a longitudinal analysis occurred during the 17th century in what is now Canada, when King Louis XIV gathered information from his population—including age, marital status, occupation, as well as livestock and land owned. He collected this information periodically to understand the health and economic viability of his colonies.

The oldest recorded longitudinal study on growth was conducted in the 18th century by Count Philibert Gueneau de Montbeillard. He measured his son every six months and published the information in the encyclopedia "Histoire Naturelle."

The Genetic Studies of Genius (also known as the Terman Study of the Gifted), which began in 1921, is known as one of the first studies to begin during the childhood of the participants and continue into their adulthood. Psychologist Lewis Terman's goal was to examine the similarities among gifted children and disprove the common assumption at the time, which was that gifted children were "socially inept."

Types of Longitudinal Studies

There are three major types of longitudinal studies:

Benefits of Longitudinal Research

A longitudinal study can provide unique insight that might not be possible any other way. This method allows researchers to look at changes over time.

Because of this, longitudinal methods are particularly useful when studying development and lifespan issues. Researchers can look at how certain things may change at different points in life and explore some of the reasons why these developmental shifts take place.

For example, consider longitudinal studies that looked at how identical twins reared together versus those reared apart differ on a variety of variables. In these types of studies, researchers tracked participants from childhood into adulthood to look at how growing up in a different environment influences personality , achievement, and other areas.

Since the participants share the same genetics , it is assumed that any differences are due to environmental factors . Researchers can then look at what the participants have in common and where they differ to see which characteristics are more strongly influenced by either genetics or experience. Note that adoption agencies no longer separate twins, so such studies are unlikely today. Longitudinal studies on twins have shifted to those within the same household.

Some longitudinal studies take place over a period of years (or even decades). Researchers can use their data to establish a sequence of events when looking at the aging process.

As with other types of psychology research, longitudinal studies have strengths and weaknesses. There are some important advantages to conducting longitudinal research, but there are also a number of challenges that need to be considered.

Longitudinal studies require enormous amounts of time and are often quite expensive. Because of this, these studies often have only a small group of subjects, which makes it difficult to apply the results to a larger population.

Another problem is that participants sometimes drop out of the study, shrinking the sample size and decreasing the amount of data collected. This tendency is known as selective attrition . Participants might drop out for a number of reasons, like moving away from the area, illness, or simply losing the motivation to participate.

In some cases, this can influence the results of the longitudinal study. If the final group no longer reflects the original representative sample , attrition can threaten the validity of the experiment.

Validity refers to whether or not a test or experiment accurately measures what it claims to measure. If the final group of participants is not a representative sample, it is difficult to generalize the results to the rest of the population.

The World’s Longest-Running Longitudinal Study

Lewis Terman aimed to investigate how highly intelligent children developed into adulthood with his study, the Genetic Studies of Genius. Results from this study were still being compiled into the 2000s.

Even before the Terman Study ended, psychologists criticized Terman for his work. Terman, a proponent of eugenics, is seen today as letting his own sexism , racism , and economic prejudice influence his study. He is also viewed as drawing major conclusions from weak evidence.

However, Terman's study continues to be influential in longitudinal studies. For instance, a recent study found new information on the original Terman sample, which was that men who had skipped a grade as children, on average, went on to have higher incomes than those who didn't skip a grade.

A Word From Verywell

A longitudinal study can provide a wealth of information on a topic. While such studies can be expensive and difficult to carry out, the information obtained from such research can be very valuable. Longitudinal studies from the past continue to influence and inspire researchers and students of psychology today.

A longitudinal study follows up with the same sample (i.e., group of people) over time, whereas a cross-sectional study examines one sample at one point in time.

There is no set time for how long a longitudinal study should be. It can range from a few weeks to a few decades or even longer.

There is no set number of participants needed for a longitudinal study. However, a researcher needs at least one participant, of course, to be able to measure data over time. But a larger group provides more information.

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Warne RT, Liu JK. Income differences among grade skippers and non-grade skippers across genders in the Terman sample, 1936–1976 . Learning and Instruction. 2017;47:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.10.004

Wang X, Cheng Z. Cross-sectional studies: Strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations . Chest . 2020;158(1S):S65-S71. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.012

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By Kendra Cherry Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology.

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Longitudinal Study Design: Definition & Examples

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A longitudinal study is a type of observational and correlational study that involves monitoring a population over an extended period of time.

What is a Longitudinal Study?

In longitudinal studies, researchers do not manipulate any variables or interfere with the environment. Instead, they simply conduct observations on the same group of subjects over a period of time.

These research studies can last as short as a week or as long as multiple years or even decades. Unlike cross-sectional studies that measure a moment in time, longitudinal studies last beyond a single moment, enabling researchers to discover cause-and-effect relationships between variables.

They are beneficial for recognizing any changes, developments, or patterns in the characteristics of a target population. Longitudinal studies are often used in clinical and developmental psychology to study shifts in behaviors, thoughts, emotions, and trends throughout a lifetime.

For example, a longitudinal study could be used to examine the progress and well-being of children at critical age periods from birth to adulthood.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development is one of the longest longitudinal studies to date. Researchers in this study have followed the same men group for over 80 years, observing psychosocial variables and biological processes for healthy aging and well-being in late life (see Harvard Second Generation Study).

Panel Study

Cohort Study

Retrospective Study

In a retrospective study , researchers either collect data on events that have already occurred or use existing data that already exists in databases, medical records, or interviews to gain insights about a population.

Allows researchers to look at changes over time

Because longitudinal studies observe variables over extended periods of time, researchers can use their data to study developmental shifts and understand how certain things change as we age.

High validation

Since objectives and rules for long-term studies are established before data collection, these studies are authentic and have high levels of validity.

Eliminates recall bias

Recall bias occurs when participants do not remember past events accurately or omit details from previous experiences.

Flexibility

The variables in longitudinal studies can change throughout the study. Even if the study was created to study a specific pattern or characteristic, the data collection could show new data points or relationships that are unique and worth investigating further.

Limitations

Costly and time-consuming.

Longitudinal studies can take months or years to complete, rendering them expensive and time-consuming. Because of this, researchers tend to have difficulty recruiting participants, leading to smaller sample sizes.

Large sample size needed

Longitudinal studies tend to be challenging to conduct because large samples are needed for any relationships or patterns to be meaningful. Researchers are unable to generate results if there is not enough data.

Participants tend to drop out

Not only is it a struggle to recruit participants, but subjects also tend to leave or drop out of the study due to various reasons such as illness, relocation, or a lack of motivation to complete the full study. This tendency is known as selective attrition and can threaten the validity of an experiment. For this reason, researchers using this approach typically recruit many participants, expecting a substantial number to drop out before the end.

Report bias is possible

Longitudinal studies will sometimes rely on surveys and questionnaires, which could result in inaccurate reporting as there is no way to verify the information presented.

How to Perform a Longitudinal Study

When beginning to develop your longitudinal study, you must first decide if you want to collect your own data or use data that has already been gathered.

Using already collected data will save you time, but it will be more restricted and limited than collecting it yourself. When collecting your own data, you can choose to conduct either a retrospective or prospective study .

In a retrospective study, you are collecting data on events that have already occurred. You can examine historical information, such as medical records, in order to understand the past. In a prospective study, on the other hand, you are collecting data in real-time. Prospective studies are more common for psychology research.

Once you determine the type of longitudinal study you will conduct, you then must determine how, when, where, and on whom the data will be collected.

A standardized study design is vital for efficiently measuring a population. Once a study design is created, it is important that researchers maintain the same study procedures over time to uphold the validity of the observation.

A schedule should be maintained, complete results should be recorded with each observation, and observer variability should be minimized.

Researchers must observe each subject under the same conditions in order to compare them. In this type of study design, each subject is the control.

Longitudinal vs. Cross-Sectional Studies

Longitudinal studies and cross-sectional studies are two different observational study designs where researchers analyze a target population without manipulating or altering the natural environment in which the participants exist.

Yet, there are apparent differences between these two forms of study. One key difference is that longitudinal studies follow the same sample of people over an extended period of time, while cross-sectional studies look at the characteristics of different populations at a given moment in time.

Longitudinal studies tend to require more time and resources, but they can be used to detect cause-and-effect relationships and establish patterns among subjects.

On the other hand, cross-sectional studies tend to be cheaper and quicker but can only provide a snapshot of a point in time and thus cannot identify cause-and-effect relationships.

Both types of studies are valuable for psychologists to observe a given group of subjects. Still, cross-sectional studies are more beneficial for establishing associations between variables, while longitudinal studies are necessary for examining a sequence of events.

Frequently asked questions

1. are longitudinal studies qualitative or quantitative, 2. what’s the difference between a longitudinal and case-control study, 3. does a longitudinal study have a control group.

Cook, N. R., & Ware, J. H. (1983). Design and analysis methods for longitudinal research. Annual review of public health, 4, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.pu.04.050183.000245

Fitchett, G., Rybarczyk, B., Demarco, G., & Nicholas, J.J. (1999). The role of religion in medical rehabilitation outcomes: A longitudinal study. Rehabilitation Psychology, 44, 333-353.

Harvard Second Generation Study. (n.d.). Harvard Second Generation Grant and Glueck Study. Harvard Study of Adult Development. Retrieved from https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org.

Le Mare, L., & Audet, K. (2006). A longitudinal study of the physical growth and health of postinstitutionalized Romanian adoptees. Paediatrics & child health, 11(2), 85-91.

Luo, Y., Hawkley, L. C., Waite, L. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: a national longitudinal study. Social science & medicine (1982), 74(6), 907–914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.028

Marques, S. C., Pais-Ribeiro, J. L., & Lopez, S. J. (2011). The role of positive psychology constructs in predicting mental health and academic achievement in children and adolescents: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 12(6), 1049–1062. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9244-4

Sidney W.A. Dekker & Wilmar B. Schaufeli (1995) The effects of job insecurity on psychological health and withdrawal: A longitudinal study, Australian Psychologist, 30:1,57-63, DOI: 10.1080/00050069508259607

Stice, E., Mazotti, L., Krebs, M., & Martin, S. (1998). Predictors of adolescent dieting behaviors: A longitudinal study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 12(3), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-164X.12.3.195

Tegan Cruwys, Katharine H Greenaway & S Alexander Haslam (2015) The Stress of Passing Through an Educational Bottleneck: A Longitudinal Study of Psychology Honours Students, Australian Psychologist, 50:5, 372-381, DOI: 10.1111/ap.12115

Thomas, L. (2020). What is a longitudinal study? Scribbr. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/longitudinal-study/

Van der Vorst, H., Engels, R. C. M. E., Meeus, W., & Deković, M. (2006). Parental attachment, parental control, and early development of alcohol use: A longitudinal study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20(2), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-164X.20.2.107

Further Information

Schaie, K. W. (2005). What can we learn from longitudinal studies of adult development?. Research in human development, 2(3), 133-158.

Caruana, E. J., Roman, M., Hernández-Sánchez, J., & Solli, P. (2015). Longitudinal studies. Journal of thoracic disease, 7(11), E537.

Longitudinal Research Design: Methods and Examples

Table of contents

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.

What Is a Longitudinal Study: Definition

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 Are Longitudinal Studies?

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.

How to Perform Longitudinal Research?

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 .

Longitudinal Study: Data From Other Sources

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.

Longitudinal Design: Own Data

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:

Longitudinal Study Types

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:

Longitudinal Cohort Study

Retrospective longitudinal study, longitudinal panel study.

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 Research Design

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.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Longitudinal Study

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.

Advantages of Longitudinal Study

These are the benefits of longitudinal study:

Longitudinal Study Disadvantages

This is the disadvantages of longitudinal study:

Longitudinal Study Examples

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

Longitudinal research example A famous longitudinal case is The Terman Study of the Gifted also known previously as Genetic Studies of Genius. Its founder and the main researcher, Lewis Terman, aimed to investigate how highly intelligent children developed into adulthood. He was also going to disprove the then-prevalent belief that gifted children were typically delicate physically and also socially inept. Initial observations began in 1921, at Stanford University. Eventually it led to confirming that gifted children were not significantly different from their peers in terms of physical development and social skills. The results of this study were still being compiled during the 2000s which makes it the oldest and longest-running longitudinal study in the world. Such a huge period of data collection made it possible to obtain some really unique knowledge, not only about children’s development but about the history of education as well.

Longitudinal: Final Thoughts

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

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Frequently Asked Questions About Longitudinal Studies

1. is a longitudinal study quantitative or qualitative.

According to the definition of a longitudinal study, quantitative methods don’t play any significant role in the process. This approach includes extended case studies, observing individuals over long periods and gaining additional insights thanks to the possibility to analyze changes over time. Since these observations and resulting assumptions mostly consist of descriptions of trends, changes and influences, we can say that it is a purely qualitative approach.

2. Are longitudinal studies more reliable?

Longitudinal studies in general have similar amounts of problems and risks as other studies do. This includes:

These factors can decrease reliability of this study type and must be taken into account when selecting such an approach.

3. Is attrition a limitation of longitudinal studies?

Depending on how big is the period they take, longitudinal studies may suffer more or less for the attrition factor. It can deteriorate generalizability of findings if participants who stay in a study are significantly different from those who drop out. In case a particular study takes many years, researchers need to see the attrition factor as a serious problem and to develop some ways to counter its negative effect.

4. What is longitudinal data collection?

Longitudinal data collection occurs sequentially from the same respondents over time. This is the core element of this study type. Repeated collection of data allows researchers to see temporal changes and understand what trends are there in this population. It allows viewing it from some new angles and thus to obtain new insights about it. There are certain limitations to such data collection, particularly when the target group tends to change over time.

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Some fields in psychology are interested in looking at the long-term effects of certain phenomena. Developmental psychology, for example, focuses on explaining how humans develop over time. For instance, Piaget theorised the four stages of development, but how were these investigated in research?

A specific research study needs to be applied to test for the changes across time of certain psychological features - longitudinal research.

Longitudinal Research Study

When conducting research, you may want to discover how something develops over several years. Researchers may ask themselves how occurrences in childhood affect the person in adulthood, for example.

Longitudinal research refers to a research method in which individuals are tested over a long period. The period in which participants are tested can range from months to years.

Research methods in psychology, Types of research, longitudinal research, Picture of different points of ageing, StudySmarter

One of the main reasons why longitudinal research is used in psychology is to establish the long-term effects of different phenomena.

In developmental psychology, longitudinal research can support researchers in establishing how a developmental process takes.

Longitudinal research is also widely used when assessing a given therapy type or a specific medication's effects. Generally speaking, longitudinal research is practical when studying changes that occur over time.

Longitudinal Research in Psychology

While the term longitudinal refers to research that investigates processes/phenomena that develop over time, within this form of research method, there are several sub-types.

The different types of longitudinal research used depends on:

The sample.

Longitudinal Research: Cohort Study

A cohort study is a form of longitudinal research investigating a group of people with common characteristics. Part of the design process of a cohort study involves defining the cohorts that will then be compared.

Researchers may be interested in studying how intelligence quotient may change with age. To study this, they may define three cohorts and compare them.

The cohorts or groups could emerge based on age. For example, cohort one could include those aged 10-20 years, the second cohort could include participants aged 21-40 years and the third cohort could consist of those aged 41-60 years.

There are two forms of longitudinal cohort research: retrospective and prospective studies.

Retrospective studies present a sample of participants who have already been exposed to specific phenomena.

Meaning the process is naturally occurring.

An example of a longitudinal cohort retrospective study is that it could investigate the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol and later alcohol dependency.

As you can infer from the example, the researchers do not actively manipulate the alcohol consumption of pregnant women. Instead, they would look for participants exposed to alcohol prenatally and measure their current alcohol consumption patterns.

Differently, in prospective studies, participants have not experienced the phenomena or outcome but may be vulnerable in some cases to the variables being studied.

Researchers design and start the study before identifying a clear hypothesis to test. The prospective research design could record outcomes in a group with common characteristics.

The 1970 British Cohort Study is an example of a longitudinal cohort prospective study. The study followed the lives of around 17,500 participants born in the same week in England and Wales.

No clear aim was defined for the study back in 1970, but different hypotheses have been tested throughout the years using the data collected.

Longitudinal Research: Panel Study

A panel study is a form of longitudinal research investigating a group of people over a long time. The sample of the study is also called a panel.

The panel is defined at the beginning of the research process and is followed up for a set amount of time.

Panel studies usually investigate people's beliefs, attitudes and opinion changes across time.

Longitudinal Research Design

Designing a longitudinal study is not particularly different from designing other studies. Let's review the steps in the design of a longitudinal study.

First, researchers identify the phenomena they are interested in. In the case of a longitudinal study, it would be something like establishing the effect that reading difficulty in childhood has on career choice in adulthood.

The research aim and hypothesis will determine the parameters the participants need to fulfil. In the case of the example above, one of the parameters would be that participants had reading difficulties in childhood.

Secondly, researchers decide how and what type of data they will be collecting, which is influenced by what approach the longitudinal research takes:

Prospective research collects information on something the researcher expects to happen.

Retrospective research collects information on something that has already happened.

After this has been identified, the researcher establishes the data collection methods they will use. In addition to how frequently and at what time intervals the data will be collected.

An example of longitudinal research is research investigating the effects of maternal deprivation on later relationships . The hypothetical aim of the study is to identify if the adverse effects of maternal deprivation are long-lasting over time.

The researchers may decide to collect data from questionnaires, interviews, and psychometric tests from all participants every two years over ten years.

To ensure that the research is valid, the researchers need to use the same planned data collection methods and follow the same protocol each time they collect data. They need to record all of the collected data from the research needs.

The final stage of the longitudinal research is analysing and reporting the results.

Longitudinal Research Example in Psychology

A longitudinal research example in psychology is the 1970 British Cohort Study. The study initially started by recruiting over 17,000 babies born in the same week in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The study collected data from participants of different ages throughout their lives.

The study aimed to identify factors such as policing, individual differences, and mental health and the long-term effects of these across the lifespan. It provided vital information on social mobility, education and opportunities, training, and employment.

The study used a series of methods to collect data, such as:

Collecting information concerning educational information.

The study used primary and secondary sources to collect data.

From this research, psychologists can learn about the long-term effects of certain traits, illnesses or experiences. Researchers can also use this to identify what factors should be investigated in experimental conditions.

Suppose a longitudinal cohort study identifies that people living in a certain area have lower IQ scores than others. In that case, further investigation may be done to identify if policies in that region are causing inequality in access to education and achievements.

Longitudinal Research Strengths and Weaknesses

The strengths of longitudinal research are the following:

It allows researchers to identify how time affects a phenomenon, specifically ones that affect important social variables such as the economy, education, and general welfare.

For example, researchers can identify whether the quality of attachments formed with a primary caregiver affects later relationships or determine if pharmacology and cognitive behavioural therapy are effective interventions.

Longitudinal studies are large-scale studies. Researchers can identify many variables that may affect the subject the researcher is interested in. Therefore, longitudinal research provides detailed information about a phenomenon.

Findings from longitudinal factors can help researchers identify what phenomenons need to be tested empirically in experimental conditions to learn more about the causes.

The weaknesses of longitudinal research are:

As it is a time-consuming type of research, it is often quite costly and difficult because it uses multiple methods to collect data.

Researchers need to recruit a large sample when conducting longitudinal research. If not, it is difficult to infer if patterns and findings of results are meaningful, leading to non-generalisable results.

As the research takes over a long period, participants are more likely to drop out. When this happens, it isn't easy to compare the results across the study time points, affecting the reliability and validity of the study.

Longitudinal Research - Key Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions about Longitudinal Research

--> what is the difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal research.

The difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal research is that cross-sectional research investigates different people at a specific time. In contrast, longitudinal research investigates the same participants across time.

--> Why is longitudinal research important?

The importance of longitudinal research in psychology is that it can help researchers:

--> What is longitudinal research?

Longitudinal research is a type of research that is used when researchers want to test the same participants for an extended time. This method usually collects data from participants at regular time intervals across this period.

--> What is longitudinal survey research?

Longitudinal survey research takes place over a long period. The study collects data using surveys at regular time intervals throughout the investigation.

--> What is qualitative longitudinal research?

Qualitative longitudinal research is a form of longitudinal research that use qualitative methods such as observations and interviews to collect data.

Final Longitudinal Research Quiz

What is the definition of longitudinal research?

Show answer

Longitudinal research is used when researchers want to test the same participants for an extended period. This method usually collects data from participants at regular intervals throughout the investigation.

Show question

What is the importance of longitudinal research in psychology?

What type of longitudinal study is the following example, a study investigating the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol and later alcohol dependency?

Longitudinal cohort retrospective study.

What type of longitudinal study is the 1970 British Cohort study?

What is a panel study?

A panel study is a form of longitudinal research that investigates a group of people over a long time. For this research type, the researchers need to try and recruit a generalisable sample to the population.

What is the difference between panel and cohort studies?

The difference between cohort and panel studies is that panel longitudinal research attempts to obtain a generalisable sample to the broader population. In contrast, cohort studies recruit participants who share a common characteristic.

What is the first step usually taken when doing longitudinal research?

The first step of longitudinal research is identifying the phenomena the researcher is interested in investigating.

What type of research collects data on something that has already happened?

Retrospective research.

What type of research collects data on something the researcher expects to happen?

Prospective research.

What should researchers do to make sure their longitudinal research is valid?

To ensure that the research is valid, the researchers need to ensure the following:

Why do researchers need to record all the data found in longitudinal research?

To prevent bias affecting results.

Why did the 1970 British Cohort Study use a longitudinal research design?

The 1970 British Cohort Study used a longitudinal design because it aimed to identify the long-term effects across the lifespan of factors such as policing, individual differences, and mental health.

What are the strengths of longitudinal research?

The strengths of longitudinal research are:

What are the weaknesses of longitudinal research?

The weaknesses of longitudinal research are:

What problems can participants dropping out cause for longitudinal research?

As longitudinal research takes place over a long period, participants are more likely to drop out. When this happens, it isn't easy to compare the results across the study time points, affecting the study's reliability and validity.

Can longitudinal experiments only be non-experimental?

No, they can be experimental too.

What is prospective research?

What are some examples of methods used to collect data in longitudinal research?

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What is a Longitudinal Study?: Definition and Explanation

What is a longitudinal study and what are it's uses

In this article, we’ll cover all you need to know about longitudinal research.

Let’s take a closer look at the defining characteristics of longitudinal studies, review the pros and cons of this type of research, and share some useful longitudinal study examples.

Content Index

What is a longitudinal study?

Types of longitudinal studies, advantages and disadvantages of conducting longitudinal surveys.

Longitudinal studies vs. cross-sectional studies

Types of surveys that use a longitudinal study

Longitudinal study examples.

A longitudinal study is a research conducted over an extended period of time. It is mostly used in medical research and other areas like psychology or sociology.

When using this method, a longitudinal survey can pay off with actionable insights when you have the time to engage in a long-term research project.

Longitudinal studies often use surveys to collect data that is either qualitative or quantitative. Additionally, in a longitudinal study, a survey creator does not interfere with survey participants. Instead, the survey creator distributes questionnaires over time to observe changes in participants, behaviors, or attitudes.

Many medical studies are longitudinal; researchers note and collect data from the same subjects over what can be many years.

Longitudinal studies are versatile, repeatable, and able to account for quantitative and qualitative data. Consider the three major types of longitudinal studies for future research:

Panel study: A panel survey involves a sample of people from a more significant population and is conducted at specified intervals for a more extended period.

One of the panel study’s essential features is that researchers collect data from the same sample at different points in time. Most panel studies are designed for quantitative analysis, though they may also be used to collect qualitative data and analysis.

Cohort Study: A cohort study samples a cohort (a group of people who typically experience the same event at a given point in time). Medical researchers tend to conduct cohort studies. Some might consider clinical trials similar to cohort studies.

In cohort studies, researchers merely observe participants without intervention, unlike clinical trials in which participants undergo tests.

Retrospective study: A retrospective study uses already existing data, collected during previously conducted research with similar methodology and variables.

While doing a retrospective study, the researcher uses an administrative database, pre-existing medical records, or one-to-one interviews.

As we’ve demonstrated, a longitudinal study is useful in science, medicine, and many other fields. There are many reasons why a researcher might want to conduct a longitudinal study. One of the essential reasons is, longitudinal studies give unique insights that many other types of research fail to provide.

Advantages of longitudinal studies

Additional data points can be collected to study unexpected findings, allowing changes to be made to the survey based on the approach that is detected.

Disadvantages of longitudinal studies

Longitudinal studies vs. Cross-sectional studies

Longitudinal studies are often confused with cross-sectional studies. Unlike longitudinal studies, where the research variables can change during a study, a cross-sectional study observes a single instance with all variables remaining the same throughout the study. A longitudinal study may follow up on a cross-sectional study to investigate the relationship between the variables more thoroughly.

The design of the study is highly dependent on the nature of the research questions. Whenever a researcher decides to collect data by surveying their participants, what matters most are the questions that are asked in the survey.

Cross-sectional Study vs Longitudinal study

Knowing what information a study should gather is the first step in determining how to conduct the rest of the study.

With a longitudinal study, you can measure and compare various business and branding aspects by deploying surveys. Some of the classic examples of surveys that researchers can use for longitudinal studies are:

Market trends and brand awareness: Use a market research survey and marketing survey to identify market trends and develop brand awareness. Through these surveys, businesses or organizations can learn what customers want and what they will discard. This study can be carried over time to assess market trends repeatedly, as they are volatile and tend to change constantly.

Product feedback: If a business or brand launches a new product and wants to know how it is faring with consumers, product feedback surveys are a great option. Collect feedback from customers about the product over an extended time. Once you’ve collected the data, it’s time to put that feedback into practice and improve your offerings.

Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction surveys help an organization get to know the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction among its customers. A longitudinal survey can gain feedback from new and regular customers for as long as you’d like to collect it, so it’s useful whether you’re starting a business or hoping to make some improvements to an established brand.

Employee engagement: When you check in regularly over time with a longitudinal survey, you’ll get a big-picture perspective of your company culture. Find out whether employees feel comfortable collaborating with colleagues and gauge their level of motivation at work.

Now that you know the basics of how researchers use longitudinal studies across several disciplines let’s review the following examples:

Example 1: Identical twins

Consider a study conducted to understand the similarities or differences between identical twins who are brought up together versus identical twins who were not. The study observes several variables, but the constant is that all the participants have identical twins.

In this case, researchers would want to observe these participants from childhood to adulthood, to understand how growing up in different environments influences traits, habits, and personality. Over many years, researchers can see both sets of twins as they experience life without intervention. Because the participants share the same genes, it is assumed that any differences are due to environmental factors, but only an attentive study can conclude those assumptions.

Example 2: Violence and video games

A group of researchers is studying whether there is a link between violence and video game usage. They collect a large sample of participants for the study. To reduce the amount of interference with their natural habits, these individuals come from a population that already plays video games. The age group is focused on teenagers (13-19 years old).

The researchers record how prone to violence participants in the sample are at the onset. It creates a baseline for later comparisons. Now the researchers will give a log to each participant to keep track of how much and how frequently they play and how much time they spend playing video games. This study can go on for months or years. During this time, the researcher can compare video game-playing behaviors with violent tendencies. Thus, investigating whether there is a link between violence and video games.

Conducting a longitudinal study with surveys is straightforward and applicable to almost any discipline. With our survey software you can easily start your own survey today.

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What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on January 30, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

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While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

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2. Psychological Research

Approaches to research, learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it. Some methods rely on observational techniques. Other approaches involve interactions between the researcher and the individuals who are being studied—ranging from a series of simple questions to extensive, in-depth interviews—to well-controlled experiments.

Each of these research methods has unique strengths and weaknesses, and each method may only be appropriate for certain types of research questions. For example, studies that rely primarily on observation produce incredible amounts of information, but the ability to apply this information to the larger population is somewhat limited because of small sample sizes. Survey research, on the other hand, allows researchers to easily collect data from relatively large samples. While this allows for results to be generalized to the larger population more easily, the information that can be collected on any given survey is somewhat limited and subject to problems associated with any type of self-reported data. Some researchers conduct archival research by using existing records. While this can be a fairly inexpensive way to collect data that can provide insight into a number of research questions, researchers using this approach have no control on how or what kind of data was collected. All of the methods described thus far are correlational in nature. This means that researchers can speak to important relationships that might exist between two or more variables of interest. However, correlational data cannot be used to make claims about cause-and-effect relationships.

Correlational research can find a relationship between two variables, but the only way a researcher can claim that the relationship between the variables is cause and effect is to perform an experiment. In experimental research, which will be discussed later in this chapter, there is a tremendous amount of control over variables of interest. While this is a powerful approach, experiments are often conducted in very artificial settings. This calls into question the validity of experimental findings with regard to how they would apply in real-world settings. In addition, many of the questions that psychologists would like to answer cannot be pursued through experimental research because of ethical concerns.

CLINICAL OR CASE STUDIES

In 2011, the New York Times published a feature story on Krista and Tatiana Hogan, Canadian twin girls. These particular twins are unique because Krista and Tatiana are conjoined twins, connected at the head. There is evidence that the two girls are connected in a part of the brain called the thalamus, which is a major sensory relay center. Most incoming sensory information is sent through the thalamus before reaching higher regions of the cerebral cortex for processing.

Link to Learning

To learn more about Krista and Tatiana, watch this New York Times video about their lives.

The implications of this potential connection mean that it might be possible for one twin to experience the sensations of the other twin. For instance, if Krista is watching a particularly funny television program, Tatiana might smile or laugh even if she is not watching the program. This particular possibility has piqued the interest of many neuroscientists who seek to understand how the brain uses sensory information.

These twins represent an enormous resource in the study of the brain, and since their condition is very rare, it is likely that as long as their family agrees, scientists will follow these girls very closely throughout their lives to gain as much information as possible (Dominus, 2011).

In observational research, scientists are conducting a clinical or case study when they focus on one person or just a few individuals. Indeed, some scientists spend their entire careers studying just 10–20 individuals. Why would they do this? Obviously, when they focus their attention on a very small number of people, they can gain a tremendous amount of insight into those cases. The richness of information that is collected in clinical or case studies is unmatched by any other single research method. This allows the researcher to have a very deep understanding of the individuals and the particular phenomenon being studied.

If clinical or case studies provide so much information, why are they not more frequent among researchers? As it turns out, the major benefit of this particular approach is also a weakness. As mentioned earlier, this approach is often used when studying individuals who are interesting to researchers because they have a rare characteristic. Therefore, the individuals who serve as the focus of case studies are not like most other people. If scientists ultimately want to explain all behavior, focusing attention on such a special group of people can make it difficult to generalize any observations to the larger population as a whole. Generalizing refers to the ability to apply the findings of a particular research project to larger segments of society. Again, case studies provide enormous amounts of information, but since the cases are so specific, the potential to apply what’s learned to the average person may be very limited.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances are that almost everyone in the classroom will raise their hand, but do you think hand washing after every trip to the restroom is really that universal?

Suppose we send a classmate into the restroom to actually watch whether everyone washes their hands after using the restroom. Will our observer blend into the restroom environment by wearing a white lab coat, sitting with a clipboard, and staring at the sinks? We want our researcher to be inconspicuous—perhaps standing at one of the sinks pretending to put in contact lenses while secretly recording the relevant information. This type of observational study is called naturalistic observation : observing behavior in its natural setting. To better understand peer exclusion, Suzanne Fanger collaborated with colleagues at the University of Texas to observe the behavior of preschool children on a playground. How did the observers remain inconspicuous over the duration of the study? They equipped a few of the children with wireless microphones (which the children quickly forgot about) and observed while taking notes from a distance. Also, the children in that particular preschool (a “laboratory preschool”) were accustomed to having observers on the playground (Fanger, Frankel, & Hazen, 2012).

It is critical that the observer be as unobtrusive and as inconspicuous as possible: when people know they are being watched, they are less likely to behave naturally. If you have any doubt about this, ask yourself how your driving behavior might differ in two situations: In the first situation, you are driving down a deserted highway during the middle of the day; in the second situation, you are being followed by a police car down the same deserted highway ( [link] ).

A photograph shows two police cars driving, one with its lights flashing.

Seeing a police car behind you would probably affect your driving behavior. (credit: Michael Gil)

It should be pointed out that naturalistic observation is not limited to research involving humans. Indeed, some of the best-known examples of naturalistic observation involve researchers going into the field to observe various kinds of animals in their own environments. As with human studies, the researchers maintain their distance and avoid interfering with the animal subjects so as not to influence their natural behaviors. Scientists have used this technique to study social hierarchies and interactions among animals ranging from ground squirrels to gorillas. The information provided by these studies is invaluable in understanding how those animals organize socially and communicate with one another. The anthropologist Jane Goodall , for example, spent nearly five decades observing the behavior of chimpanzees in Africa ( [link] ). As an illustration of the types of concerns that a researcher might encounter in naturalistic observation, some scientists criticized Goodall for giving the chimps names instead of referring to them by numbers—using names was thought to undermine the emotional detachment required for the objectivity of the study (McKie, 2010).

(a) A photograph shows Jane Goodall speaking from a lectern. (b) A photograph shows a chimpanzee’s face.

(a) Jane Goodall made a career of conducting naturalistic observations of (b) chimpanzee behavior. (credit “Jane Goodall”: modification of work by Erik Hersman; “chimpanzee”: modification of work by “Afrika Force”/Flickr.com)

The greatest benefit of naturalistic observation is the validity , or accuracy, of information collected unobtrusively in a natural setting. Having individuals behave as they normally would in a given situation means that we have a higher degree of ecological validity, or realism, than we might achieve with other research approaches. Therefore, our ability to generalize the findings of the research to real-world situations is enhanced. If done correctly, we need not worry about people or animals modifying their behavior simply because they are being observed. Sometimes, people may assume that reality programs give us a glimpse into authentic human behavior. However, the principle of inconspicuous observation is violated as reality stars are followed by camera crews and are interviewed on camera for personal confessionals. Given that environment, we must doubt how natural and realistic their behaviors are.

The major downside of naturalistic observation is that they are often difficult to set up and control. In our restroom study, what if you stood in the restroom all day prepared to record people’s hand washing behavior and no one came in? Or, what if you have been closely observing a troop of gorillas for weeks only to find that they migrated to a new place while you were sleeping in your tent? The benefit of realistic data comes at a cost. As a researcher you have no control of when (or if) you have behavior to observe. In addition, this type of observational research often requires significant investments of time, money, and a good dose of luck.

Sometimes studies involve structured observation. In these cases, people are observed while engaging in set, specific tasks. An excellent example of structured observation comes from Strange Situation by Mary Ainsworth (you will read more about this in the chapter on lifespan development). The Strange Situation is a procedure used to evaluate attachment styles that exist between an infant and caregiver. In this scenario, caregivers bring their infants into a room filled with toys. The Strange Situation involves a number of phases, including a stranger coming into the room, the caregiver leaving the room, and the caregiver’s return to the room. The infant’s behavior is closely monitored at each phase, but it is the behavior of the infant upon being reunited with the caregiver that is most telling in terms of characterizing the infant’s attachment style with the caregiver.

Another potential problem in observational research is observer bias . Generally, people who act as observers are closely involved in the research project and may unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations. To protect against this type of bias, researchers should have clear criteria established for the types of behaviors recorded and how those behaviors should be classified. In addition, researchers often compare observations of the same event by multiple observers, in order to test inter-rater reliability : a measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers.

Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally ( [link] ). Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.

Surveys allow researchers to gather data from larger samples than may be afforded by other research methods . A sample is a subset of individuals selected from a population , which is the overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in. Researchers study the sample and seek to generalize their findings to the population.

A sample online survey reads, “Dear visitor, your opinion is important to us. We would like to invite you to participate in a short survey to gather your opinions and feedback on your news consumption habits. The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes. Simply click the “Yes” button below to launch the survey. Would you like to participate?” Two buttons are labeled “yes” and “no.”

Surveys can be administered in a number of ways, including electronically administered research, like the survey shown here. (credit: Robert Nyman)

There is both strength and weakness of the survey in comparison to case studies. By using surveys, we can collect information from a larger sample of people. A larger sample is better able to reflect the actual diversity of the population, thus allowing better generalizability. Therefore, if our sample is sufficiently large and diverse, we can assume that the data we collect from the survey can be generalized to the larger population with more certainty than the information collected through a case study. However, given the greater number of people involved, we are not able to collect the same depth of information on each person that would be collected in a case study.

Another potential weakness of surveys is something we touched on earlier in this chapter: People don’t always give accurate responses. They may lie, misremember, or answer questions in a way that they think makes them look good. For example, people may report drinking less alcohol than is actually the case.

Any number of research questions can be answered through the use of surveys. One real-world example is the research conducted by Jenkins, Ruppel, Kizer, Yehl, and Griffin (2012) about the backlash against the US Arab-American community following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Jenkins and colleagues wanted to determine to what extent these negative attitudes toward Arab-Americans still existed nearly a decade after the attacks occurred. In one study, 140 research participants filled out a survey with 10 questions, including questions asking directly about the participant’s overt prejudicial attitudes toward people of various ethnicities. The survey also asked indirect questions about how likely the participant would be to interact with a person of a given ethnicity in a variety of settings (such as, “How likely do you think it is that you would introduce yourself to a person of Arab-American descent?”). The results of the research suggested that participants were unwilling to report prejudicial attitudes toward any ethnic group. However, there were significant differences between their pattern of responses to questions about social interaction with Arab-Americans compared to other ethnic groups: they indicated less willingness for social interaction with Arab-Americans compared to the other ethnic groups. This suggested that the participants harbored subtle forms of prejudice against Arab-Americans, despite their assertions that this was not the case (Jenkins et al., 2012).

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

Some researchers gain access to large amounts of data without interacting with a single research participant. Instead, they use existing records to answer various research questions. This type of research approach is known as archival research . Archival research relies on looking at past records or data sets to look for interesting patterns or relationships.

For example, a researcher might access the academic records of all individuals who enrolled in college within the past ten years and calculate how long it took them to complete their degrees, as well as course loads, grades, and extracurricular involvement. Archival research could provide important information about who is most likely to complete their education, and it could help identify important risk factors for struggling students ( [link] ).

(a) A photograph shows stacks of paper files on shelves. (b) A photograph shows a computer.

A researcher doing archival research examines records, whether archived as a (a) hardcopy or (b) electronically. (credit “paper files”: modification of work by “Newtown graffiti”/Flickr; “computer”: modification of work by INPIVIC Family/Flickr)

In comparing archival research to other research methods, there are several important distinctions. For one, the researcher employing archival research never directly interacts with research participants. Therefore, the investment of time and money to collect data is considerably less with archival research. Additionally, researchers have no control over what information was originally collected. Therefore, research questions have to be tailored so they can be answered within the structure of the existing data sets. There is also no guarantee of consistency between the records from one source to another, which might make comparing and contrasting different data sets problematic.

LONGITUDINAL AND CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH

Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again at age 40.

Another approach is cross-sectional research. In cross-sectional research , a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. Using the dietary habits example above, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old individuals. While cross-sectional research requires a shorter-term investment, it is also limited by differences that exist between the different generations (or cohorts) that have nothing to do with age per se, but rather reflect the social and cultural experiences of different generations of individuals make them different from one another.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following survey findings. In recent years there has been significant growth in the popular support of same-sex marriage. Many studies on this topic break down survey participants into different age groups. In general, younger people are more supportive of same-sex marriage than are those who are older (Jones, 2013). Does this mean that as we age we become less open to the idea of same-sex marriage, or does this mean that older individuals have different perspectives because of the social climates in which they grew up? Longitudinal research is a powerful approach because the same individuals are involved in the research project over time, which means that the researchers need to be less concerned with differences among cohorts affecting the results of their study.

Often longitudinal studies are employed when researching various diseases in an effort to understand particular risk factors. Such studies often involve tens of thousands of individuals who are followed for several decades. Given the enormous number of people involved in these studies, researchers can feel confident that their findings can be generalized to the larger population. The Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) is one of a series of longitudinal studies sponsored by the American Cancer Society aimed at determining predictive risk factors associated with cancer. When participants enter the study, they complete a survey about their lives and family histories, providing information on factors that might cause or prevent the development of cancer. Then every few years the participants receive additional surveys to complete. In the end, hundreds of thousands of participants will be tracked over 20 years to determine which of them develop cancer and which do not.

Clearly, this type of research is important and potentially very informative. For instance, earlier longitudinal studies sponsored by the American Cancer Society provided some of the first scientific demonstrations of the now well-established links between increased rates of cancer and smoking (American Cancer Society, n.d.) ( [link] ).

A photograph shows pack of cigarettes and cigarettes in an ashtray. The pack of cigarettes reads, “Surgeon general’s warning: smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.”

Longitudinal research like the CPS-3 help us to better understand how smoking is associated with cancer and other diseases. (credit: CDC/Debora Cartagena)

As with any research strategy, longitudinal research is not without limitations. For one, these studies require an incredible time investment by the researcher and research participants. Given that some longitudinal studies take years, if not decades, to complete, the results will not be known for a considerable period of time. In addition to the time demands, these studies also require a substantial financial investment. Many researchers are unable to commit the resources necessary to see a longitudinal project through to the end.

Research participants must also be willing to continue their participation for an extended period of time, and this can be problematic. People move, get married and take new names, get ill, and eventually die. Even without significant life changes, some people may simply choose to discontinue their participation in the project. As a result, the attrition rates, or reduction in the number of research participants due to dropouts, in longitudinal studies are quite high and increases over the course of a project. For this reason, researchers using this approach typically recruit many participants fully expecting that a substantial number will drop out before the end. As the study progresses, they continually check whether the sample still represents the larger population, and make adjustments as necessary.

The clinical or case study involves studying just a few individuals for an extended period of time. While this approach provides an incredible depth of information, the ability to generalize these observations to the larger population is problematic. Naturalistic observation involves observing behavior in a natural setting and allows for the collection of valid, true-to-life information from realistic situations. However, naturalistic observation does not allow for much control and often requires quite a bit of time and money to perform. Researchers strive to ensure that their tools for collecting data are both reliable (consistent and replicable) and valid (accurate).

Surveys can be administered in a number of ways and make it possible to collect large amounts of data quickly. However, the depth of information that can be collected through surveys is somewhat limited compared to a clinical or case study.

Archival research involves studying existing data sets to answer research questions.

Longitudinal research has been incredibly helpful to researchers who need to collect data on how people change over time. Cross-sectional research compares multiple segments of a population at a single time.

Review Questions

Self check questions, critical thinking questions.

1. In this section, conjoined twins, Krista and Tatiana, were described as being potential participants in a case study. In what other circumstances would you think that this particular research approach would be especially helpful and why?

2. Presumably, reality television programs aim to provide a realistic portrayal of the behavior displayed by the characters featured in such programs. This section pointed out why this is not really the case. What changes could be made in the way that these programs are produced that would result in more honest portrayals of realistic behavior?

3. Which of the research methods discussed in this section would be best suited to research the effectiveness of the D.A.R.E. program in preventing the use of alcohol and other drugs? Why?

4. Aside from biomedical research, what other areas of research could greatly benefit by both longitudinal and archival research?

Personal Application Questions

5. A friend of yours is working part-time in a local pet store. Your friend has become increasingly interested in how dogs normally communicate and interact with each other, and is thinking of visiting a local veterinary clinic to see how dogs interact in the waiting room. After reading this section, do you think this is the best way to better understand such interactions? Do you have any suggestions that might result in more valid data?

6. As a college student, you are no doubt concerned about the grades that you earn while completing your coursework. If you wanted to know how overall GPA is related to success in life after college, how would you choose to approach this question and what kind of resources would you need to conduct this research?

1. Case studies might prove especially helpful using individuals who have rare conditions. For instance, if one wanted to study multiple personality disorder then the case study approach with individuals diagnosed with multiple personality disorder would be helpful.

2. The behavior displayed on these programs would be more realistic if the cameras were mounted in hidden locations, or if the people who appear on these programs did not know when they were being recorded.

3. Longitudinal research would be an excellent approach in studying the effectiveness of this program because it would follow students as they aged to determine if their choices regarding alcohol and drugs were affected by their participation in the program.

4. Answers will vary. Possibilities include research on hiring practices based on human resource records, and research that follows former prisoners to determine if the time that they were incarcerated provided any sort of positive influence on their likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior in the future.

Psychology. Authored by : OpenStax College. Located at : http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1/Psychology . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

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Case-control study of sun exposure and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin

Affiliation.

We conducted a case-control study of sun exposure and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin within a population-based, longitudinal study of skin cancer. Cases had histopathologically confirmed SCC. Subjects were interviewed about their lifetime sun exposure, including exposure to the site of the SCC (sites for controls were assigned randomly). Analysis was restricted to 132 cases and 1,031 controls born in Australia and with no ancestors from southern Europe. The total site-specific exposure was strongly related to risk of SCC; the odds ratio increased to a maximum of 3.3 at 65,000 hr of exposure before falling slightly. Site-specific exposure during childhood and adolescence was more strongly associated with SCC than exposure during adulthood. An intermittent pattern of weekly sun exposure was not associated with SCC and the odds ratios for hours of exposure on vacation were close to unity. The number of blistering sunburns to the site was positively associated with SCC. Use of sunscreens and hats showed inconsistent effects. Sun exposure, especially during childhood and adolescence, increases the risk of SCC. The pattern of exposure appears to be unimportant, despite the association with sunburn, which may simply be an indicator of the skin's sensitivity to sunlight.

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Discover method in the Methods Map

Case study uses a focus on a single person, incident, or phenomenon to examine a theoretical issue in-depth, offering a holistic analysis which may employ diverse methods of data collection and analysis. This entry discusses some of the arguments which have been posed for and against case study inquiry, in particular looking at the issue of generalisation. The construction of the case study is also discussed, with a principal distinction being drawn between two parts of the case study: (1) the subject of the study, which is the case itself, and (2) the object, which is the analytical frame or theory which the subject illuminates and explicates. Beyond this distinction, the case study is presented as classifiable by its purposes and the approaches adopted. Distinctions are also drawn among various operational structures that concern comparative versus noncomparative versions of the form and the ways that the study may employ time. An iconic case study is deconstructed using the typology drawn up on the basis of this analysis, and the wholly distinctive insights offered by the case study vis-à-vis reductionist methods of social science inquiry are discussed.

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Types of Research Designs

by EPR Staff · Published 2023-02-28 · Updated 2023-02-07

Research design is a crucial aspect of any research project, as it outlines the methods and procedures that will be used to gather and analyze data. It helps companies in learning more about audiences and markets. There are several different types of research designs. Each type has its own strengths and limitations, and choosing the right design for a particular project can be challenging.

Experimental Design

Experimental design is a type of research design that involves manipulating one or more independent variables to observe their effect on a dependent variable. The goal of experimental design is to establish causality. That means companies have to determine if changes in the independent variable cause changes in the dependent variable. Experimental design is often used in scientific research. This research design type can also be applied to other fields, such as marketing and social sciences.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A quasi-experimental design is similar to an experimental design. The main difference is that it doesn’t involve the random assignment of participants to conditions. This type of design is often used when it is not possible or practical to randomly assign participants to conditions. That’s the case with studies of natural phenomena or human behavior. Quasi-experimental design can provide valuable insights. This research design type is often limited by the potential for confounding variables, or variables that may affect the results.

Survey Design

Survey design involves collecting data from a sample of individuals. That’s done by using a questionnaire or survey instrument. Surveys can be used to gather information about a variety of topics. That includes attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and demographic information. Survey design is a flexible research method. This method can be applied to a wide range of subjects. It tends to be used in fields such as marketing, social sciences, and public health.

Case Study Design

Case study design involves a detailed investigation of a single case or a small number of cases. The goal of case study design is to gain an in-depth understanding of a particular phenomenon or event. Case studies are often used in fields such as business, education, and psychology. This research design type can provide valuable insights into complex problems.

Cross-Sectional Design

Cross-sectional design involves collecting data from a sample of individuals at a single point in time. This type of design is often used to gather information about a specific population or to compare different groups. The cross-sectional design is a useful method for gaining a snapshot of a population. It’s limited by its inability to capture changes over a longer period of time.

Longitudinal Design

Longitudinal design involves collecting data from a sample of individuals over an extended period of time. This type of design allows researchers to track changes in the population and to examine patterns over time. A longitudinal design is often used in fields such as psychology, sociology, and epidemiology. It’s a powerful tool for understanding complex phenomena.

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Customer Loyalty by Generations

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What is a Longitudinal Study? Definition, Types & Examples

Kate william.

13 July 2021

Table Of Contents

What is a Longitudinal Study?

Types of Longitudinal Studies?

Pros and Cons of Longitudinal Research Design

Examples of longitudinal surveys.

Sonia was conflicted. A few months ago, a survey from a grocery delivery app had asked her if she preferred normal eggs or the free-range ones.

She was financially stressed and couldn’t afford to pay more for free-range eggs, so she picked the normal ones.

But last night, she had watched a popular documentary on Netflix about how hens were treated in cages, and now felt much more strongly about wanting to buy free-range eggs.

There was no way for Sonia to communicate this new preference to her grocery delivery app.

But that’s the thing about consumer trends. They are constantly shifting, and one survey taken years ago is not going to give you an accurate picture of the shifts in trends.

That’s why your business needs to understand what is a longitudinal study.

At times, a one-off survey simply isn’t enough to give you the data you need. If you need to observe certain trends, behaviors, or preferences over time, you can use a longitudinal study.

At Surveysparrow, we have just the right survey templates to help you with longitudinal studies. But for now, let’s try to understand what is a longitudinal study.

The simplest way to understand what is a longitudinal study is to think of it as a survey taken over time. The passing of time could influence the responses of the same person to the exact same question. Like with Sonia, her preferences for eggs changed since she watched the documentary. That’s the kind of thing that longitudinal research design measures.

As for a formal definition, a longitudinal study is a research method that involves repeated observations of the same variable (eg. a set of people) over a period of time. The observations over a period of time might be undertaken in the form of an online survey. It can be tremendously useful in a variety of fields to be able to observe behavior or trends over a period of time.

The applications of knowing what is longitudinal studies are plenty. Longitudinal studies are used in fields like clinical psychology to measure a patient’s thoughts over time, or in market research to observe consumer trends. They are also helpful in political polling and sociology, observing life events and societal shifts over time. Longitudinal research design is also used in medicine to discover predictors of certain diseases.

Types of Longitudinal Studies

When talking about what is a longitudinal study, we cannot go without also discussing the types of longitudinal research design. There are different studies based on your needs. When you understand all three types of longitudinal studies, you’ll be able to pick out the one that’s best suited to your needs.

Panel Study

When we want to find out trends in a larger population, we often use a sample size to survey. A panel study is simply observing that sample size over time. By doing so, panel studies can identify cultural shifts and new trends in a larger population.

Panel studies are designed for the purposes of quantitative analysis. Through the data from online surveys, you can identify common patterns in the responses from your sample (which remains the same over time). With Surveysparrow’s results dashboard, we make it easier for you to conduct such analysis of your collected data.

In panel studies, it is crucial that the same set of people be studied over time. If you pick a different sample, variations in individual preferences could skew your results. Observing the same set of people can make sure that what you’re observing is a change over time.

Cohort Study

A longitudinal cohort study is one in which we study people who share a single characteristic over a period of time. Cohort studies are regularly conducted by medical researchers to ascertain the effects of a new drug or the symptoms of a disease.

In cohort studies, the behaviors of the selected group of people are observed over time to find patterns and trends. Often, these studies can go on for years. They can also be particularly useful for ascertaining consumer trends if you’re trying to research consumers with a specific common characteristic. An example of such a study would be observing the choice of cereal for kids who go to Sunshine Elementary School over time.

If you’re confused between panel studies and cohort studies, don’t worry. The one key difference between cohort studies and panel studies is that the same set of people have to be observed in the latter. In cohort studies, you can pick a different sample of the same demographic to study over time.

Retrospective Study

A retrospective longitudinal study is when you take pre-existing data from previous online surveys and other research. The objective here is to put your results in a larger timeline and observe the variation in results over time. What makes retrospective studies longitudinal is simply the fact that they’re aimed at revealing trends over time.

When understanding what is a longitudinal study, it’ll be well worth your while to look into retrospective studies. For your company, retrospective longitudinal studies can reveal crucial insights without you having to spend a single dime. Since these studies depend on existing data, they not only don’t cost much themselves but also improve the returns from your earlier research efforts.

How can retrospective longitudinal studies be useful to you? Let’s assume for example that you conduct an employee engagement survey every year. If your organization has done these surveys for the past 10 years, you now have more than enough material to conduct a retrospective study. You can then find out how employee engagement at your company has varied over time.

Like with every research method , longitudinal studies have their advantages and disadvantages. While trying to understand what is a longitudinal study, it is important to get the particular ways in which they’re useful, and situations in which they’re not. Let’s go over some of the major pros and cons of longitudinal surveys.

Advantages of Longitudinal Studies

Disadvantages of Longitudinal Studies

Longitudinal surveys have been used by researchers and businesses for a long time now, so there is no dearth of examples. Let’s walk through a few of them so you can better understand what is a longitudinal survey.

Australia’s ‘45 and Up’ Survey

There is no better example to understand what is longitudinal research than the 45 and Up study being conducted in Australia. It aims to understand healthy aging, and has 250,000 participants who are aged 45 or older. The idea is to get a better idea of the health of Australians as they get older.

Such a study needed to be a longitudinal survey since you can only understand the effects of aging en masse by considering the results over time. The results from this study are being used in areas like cardiovascular research and preventable hospitalizations.

Smoking and Lung Cancer

To understand the effects of smoking, you need to be able to assess its consequences over time. The British Doctors Study, which ran from 1951 to 2001, yielded results that strongly indicated the link between smoking and lung cancer. If not for longitudinal research methods, we might never have known.

Even though the research was first published in 1956, the study went on for almost half a century after that. When thinking about what is a longitudinal study, we must also consider that these studies give results while they’re ongoing. Conclusively proving the link between smoking and cancer required a robust, longitudinal survey.

Growing Up In Ireland

Started in 2006, Growing Up In Ireland is a longitudinal study conducted by the Irish government to understand what the life of children looks like in different age brackets. One cohort that the study started following at 9 years of age is now 23. The long-term study, by following a set of children throughout their childhood, can yield interesting results.

The thing to remember when thinking about what is a longitudinal study is that they can have broad objectives. You can go in without really knowing what you’re trying to find and what that might lead to. You can then use the surprises along the way to generate actionable insights.

Wrapping Up

At Surveysparrow, we love surveys of all kinds. For certain types of questions, you simply need to conduct longitudinal surveys, and we’re here to support you through the process. With our online templates and intuitive UI, conducting a longitudinal survey will be much easier than ever before.

If you started out wondering what is a longitudinal study, we hope that we’ve addressed that question and more in this article. If you want to create a longitudinal survey, don’t forget to first plan out your survey. A retrospective study, like we just talked about, can also be a great solution to your problems.

The thing to love about longitudinal surveys is the surprising results they can yield. That is really what drives us at Surveysparrow, that you might find something in the results that you didn’t expect, and it might change the course of your company for the better. Conduct a longitudinal study today, and get actionable insights that can help you solve your biggest obstacles as a business and accelerate your growth!

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What is longitudinal research.

Longitudinal research refers to research that investigates events or phenomena over an extended period of time. Longitudinal research studies can be as brief as 1 or 2 years, for example, when evaluating the effects of a particular learning strategy, technique, or treatment. They can also run over several decades, as when examining changes in adult personality and health behaviors. They allow changes to be assessed over a variety of levels and take into account the natural development and growth that occurs across the life span. For example, consider a study that follows children over a several-year period to assess the consequences of media exposure, as opposed to a study done over a few months to evaluate the effects of exposure to violent images on levels of overt aggression. The first would be longitudinal, whereas the second study would not be considered a longitudinal study unless the children or age cohort was repeatedly assessed over a longer period of time.

Types Of Longitudinal Studies

There are four principle types of longitudinal studies: trend studies, cohort studies, panel studies, and case-based studies. All four types tend to be descriptive, in that they generally do not manipulate variables (a variable is any clearly described item or construct that can be observed and analyzed), but describe how selected variables change over time and how these changes are related to other variables. Trend, cohort, and panel studies typically use instrumental measures, such as surveys, questionnaires, pencil-and-paper tests, and other standardized instruments, supplemented by descriptive measures. Casebased studies typically use descriptive measures, such as interviews, projective techniques, observations, and narratives and are supplemented by instrumental measures.

Trend studies examine changes within a defined sample population that does not stay constant. For example, if you are interested in changes in the amount of television or video exposure in preschoolage children, you could take a survey sample from preschool-age children repeatedly, over several years, and look at the trend. The children from whom you draw the sample would be constantly changing, and you would be measuring the patterns of change in the viewing exposure of a defined sample population,3to 5-year-old children, over time.

Cohort studies examine changes within a defined sample population that is stable. For example, if you are interested in changes in employment and health status of American Vietnam-era combat veterans, you could periodically sample from a directory of U.S. military personnel who were listed as serving in combat between 1962 and 1974. The sample may contain different individuals at each data collection point, but it would represent the same population cohort at each time.

Panel studies examine changes over time within a selected sample that remains constant. For example, you are interested in describing the changes that occur over time as people age. You could select a group of people and have them complete a variety of measures at repeated intervals over several decades. The people in the study remain the same at each data collection point, with natural attrition (e.g., an individual’s death) being the primary cause of the panel sample changing.

Case-based studies examine changes within organizations, groups, or individuals, often with regard to some intervention. The intervention could be training, a new policy or procedure, an educational program, or therapy. For example, you are interested in changes in an organization resulting from the introduction of a training program for a new technology. You could collect a set of measures from a sample of employees or students before the introduction of the program and then repeat the measures at set intervals. Similar to a cohort or panel study, a case-based sample would remain stable (in the case of employee or student samples in an organization) or the same (in the case of group or individual participants).

Advantages Of Longitudinal Studies

Longitudinal research is an effective and powerful method for investigating developmental variables and is essential in understanding outcomes for most naturally occurring or socially imposed interventions. One of the chief advantages of longitudinal research is that, since the same subjects or cohorts are being followed and repeatedly sampled over time, changes that are observed can be attributed to individual changes, rather than variations over individuals (referred to as sample variance or statistical error ). This allows a reliable description of patterns of change in individuals or groups, and a description of the direction and magnitude of causal relationships between variables, that would be available no other way.

Disadvantages Of Longitudinal Studies

Longitudinal studies are considered nonexperimental, meaning that they are not conducted using randomized selection of participants who are compared with a matched control group through manipulation of a variable to expose the effect of that variable on the (experimental) participants. Nonexperimental studies are considered inferior by experimentalists, who place primary importance on the causal inference that randomization, control, and manipulation theoretically provide. However, as mentioned earlier, longitudinal studies can be used to describe the direction and magnitude of casual relationships, even though they are not as theoretically precise as experimental studies in determining causal relationships.

From a more practical perspective, the central disadvantage to longitudinal research is the length of time it takes to complete a study, with the attendant problems of attrition (in both participants and research assistants), costs, and measures. Conducting a research project that follows a group of participants over the course of years or decades requires significant investment of time from both the participants and the research team, significant financial support to maintain contact with participants and involvement of investigators, and significant foresight on the part of the investigators in selecting measures that will not become antiquated during the course of the study.

Examples Of Longitudinal Studies

The Study of Adult Development at Harvard has followed two panels of people over a long period of time: a panel of 268 Harvard students selected from the sophomore classes between 1939 and 1942 representing a socially advantaged, predominately male group and a panel of 456 disadvantaged inner-city males from Boston born about 1930. This Harvard-based study has focused on the physical and psychological health of the panel members, using social histories, biennial questionnaires, face-to-face interviews (every 15 years), and complete physical examinations (every 5 years). It has provided numerous insights into the components of healthy aging as well as insights into social and cultural constraints on aging, adaptation to stress, habits and coping skills, and childhood risk factors.

The Seattle Longitudinal Study, a study of adult development from midlife through old age, has followed a panel of people since 1956. The research has focused on psychological development during the adult years. The original panel of 500 participants was randomly selected from a community health program and ranged in age from early twenties to late sixties. The study has continued since 1956, with data collected in 1963, 1970, 1977, 1984, 1991, and 1998. At each interval, a new group of people randomly selected from the same community health program have been asked to participate. As of the 1998 data collection, nearly 6,000 people have participated at some time in this study. Of the original participants from 1956, 38 people remain who have now been in the study for 42 years. The study collected data from the primary participants as well as siblings and offspring over the years, and it has been the source of numerous academic publications, as well as congressional presentations and policy discussions regarding issues related to aging, retirement, and other public policy considerations.

Numerous other databases have been created over the past several decades. Many agencies and institutions make these databases available to qualified researchers at no cost or for a nominal fee.

Longitudinal research studies investigate events or phenomena over extended periods of time. They follow the same or a similar group of people and are essential in understanding human change and development. However, they demand significant investments of time and resources and are usually descriptive because they do not provide the precise cause-and effect logic of experimental studies. They provide reliable descriptions of patterns of change and of direction and magnitude of change that would be available no other way.

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Approaches to Research

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

CLINICAL OR CASE STUDIES

To learn more about Krista and Tatiana, watch this New York Times video about their lives.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

It should be pointed out that naturalistic observation is not limited to research involving humans. Indeed, some of the best-known examples of naturalistic observation involve researchers going into the field to observe various kinds of animals in their own environments. As with human studies, the researchers maintain their distance and avoid interfering with the animal subjects so as not to influence their natural behaviors. Scientists have used this technique to study social hierarchies and interactions among animals ranging from ground squirrels to gorillas. The information provided by these studies is invaluable in understanding how those animals organize socially and communicate with one another. The anthropologist Jane Goodall , for example, spent nearly five decades observing the behavior of chimpanzees in Africa ( Figure ). As an illustration of the types of concerns that a researcher might encounter in naturalistic observation, some scientists criticized Goodall for giving the chimps names instead of referring to them by numbers—using names was thought to undermine the emotional detachment required for the objectivity of the study (McKie, 2010).

Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally ( Figure ). Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.

Another potential weakness of surveys is something we touched on earlier in this chapter: People don't always give accurate responses. They may lie, misremember, or answer questions in a way that they think makes them look good. For example, people may report drinking less alcohol than is actually the case.

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

LONGITUDINAL AND CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH

Archival research involves studying existing data sets to answer research questions.

Review Questions

Sigmund Freud developed his theory of human personality by conducting in-depth interviews over an extended period of time with a few clients. This type of research approach is known as a(n): ________.

________ involves observing behavior in individuals in their natural environments.

The major limitation of case studies is ________.

The benefit of naturalistic observation studies is ________.

Using existing records to try to answer a research question is known as ________.

________ involves following a group of research participants for an extended period of time.

cross-sectional research

A(n) ________ is a list of questions developed by a researcher that can be administered in paper form.

Longitudinal research is complicated by high rates of ________.

Critical Thinking Questions

In this section, conjoined twins, Krista and Tatiana, were described as being potential participants in a case study. In what other circumstances would you think that this particular research approach would be especially helpful and why?

Case studies might prove especially helpful using individuals who have rare conditions. For instance, if one wanted to study multiple personality disorder then the case study approach with individuals diagnosed with multiple personality disorder would be helpful.

Presumably, reality television programs aim to provide a realistic portrayal of the behavior displayed by the characters featured in such programs. This section pointed out why this is not really the case. What changes could be made in the way that these programs are produced that would result in more honest portrayals of realistic behavior?

The behavior displayed on these programs would be more realistic if the cameras were mounted in hidden locations, or if the people who appear on these programs did not know when they were being recorded.

Which of the research methods discussed in this section would be best suited to research the effectiveness of the D.A.R.E. program in preventing the use of alcohol and other drugs? Why?

Longitudinal research would be an excellent approach in studying the effectiveness of this program because it would follow students as they aged to determine if their choices regarding alcohol and drugs were affected by their participation in the program.

Aside from biomedical research, what other areas of research could greatly benefit by both longitudinal and archival research?

Answers will vary. Possibilities include research on hiring practices based on human resource records, and research that follows former prisoners to determine if the time that they were incarcerated provided any sort of positive influence on their likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior in the future.

Personal Application Questions

A friend of yours is working part-time in a local pet store. Your friend has become increasingly interested in how dogs normally communicate and interact with each other, and is thinking of visiting a local veterinary clinic to see how dogs interact in the waiting room. After reading this section, do you think this is the best way to better understand such interactions? Do you have any suggestions that might result in more valid data?

As a college student, you are no doubt concerned about the grades that you earn while completing your coursework. If you wanted to know how overall GPA is related to success in life after college, how would you choose to approach this question and what kind of resources would you need to conduct this research?

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Bibliometric analysis of remote sensing research trend in crop growth monitoring: a case study in china.

1. Introduction

2. data and methods, 3.1. time of publication, 3.2. research focus, 3.3. research front, 4. discussion, 4.1. basic research and method development, 4.2. research trend, 5. conclusions, author contributions, conflicts of interest.

Share and Cite

Wang, L.; Zhang, G.; Wang, Z.; Liu, J.; Shang, J.; Liang, L. Bibliometric Analysis of Remote Sensing Research Trend in Crop Growth Monitoring: A Case Study in China. Remote Sens. 2019 , 11 , 809. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11070809

Wang L, Zhang G, Wang Z, Liu J, Shang J, Liang L. Bibliometric Analysis of Remote Sensing Research Trend in Crop Growth Monitoring: A Case Study in China. Remote Sensing . 2019; 11(7):809. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11070809

Wang, Lijuan, Guimin Zhang, Ziyi Wang, Jiangui Liu, Jiali Shang, and Liang Liang. 2019. "Bibliometric Analysis of Remote Sensing Research Trend in Crop Growth Monitoring: A Case Study in China" Remote Sensing 11, no. 7: 809. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11070809

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Longitudinal Study
Longitudinal studies are a type of correlational research in which researchers observe and collect data on a number of variables without trying to influence those variables. While they are most commonly used in medicine, economics, and epidemiology, longitudinal studies can also be found in the other social or medical sciences. Table of contents
The STS case study: an analysis method for longitudinal qualitative
The STS case study: an analysis method for longitudinal qualitative research for implementation science Authors Jennifer M Van Tiem 1 2 , Heather Schacht Reisinger 3 4 5 6 , Julia E Friberg 3 4 , Jaime R Wilson 3 4 , Lynn Fitzwater 7 , Ralph J Panos 7 , Jane Moeckli 3 4 Affiliations
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A longitudinal study is a research conducted over an extended period of time. It is mostly used in medical research and other areas like psychology or sociology. When using this method, a longitudinal survey can pay off with actionable insights when you have the time to engage in a long-term research project.
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Longitudinal studies are used in fields like clinical psychology to measure a patient's thoughts over time, or in market research to observe consumer trends. They are also helpful in political polling and sociology, observing life events and societal shifts over time.
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Bibliometric Analysis of Remote Sensing Research Trend in Crop Growth
Remote sensing of crop growth monitoring is an important technique to guide agricultural production. To gain a comprehensive understanding of historical progression and current status, and future trend of remote sensing researches and applications in the field of crop growth monitoring in China, a study was carried out based on the publications from the past 20 years by Chinese scholars. Using ...