cross sectional studies

• • Takes place on one specific moment in time, compares different groups of people at that time
  • Participants are only tested once, usually to find a relationship between one variable and another
• strengths

  • Reasonably cheap and practical
  • participants only tested once - no follow up study needed
  • Participants easily obtained as less pressure to commit than longitudinal
  • Less ethical considerations than longitudinal
• weaknesses

  • Less rich/detailed data than longitudinal with regards to individual differences
  • Data collected is from a snapshot in time, harder to identify and analyse developmental trends