longitudinal studies

• Longitudinal research is done over a long period of time in someone's life to observe how lifestyle can change a person
• Sociologists use longitudinal studies to investigate employment, education, and other factors for policy-making purposes
• Longitudinal research involves looking after the same group of people over a large period of time to identify trends that change or remain constant
• One major issue in longitudinal research is the high dropout rate, ranging from 35-70%
• Longitudinal studies allow researchers to observe changes in individuals over their lifetime and across generations
• The Seven-Up series lasted for 56 years and studied how economic classes and influences affected individuals throughout their lives
• The study focused on participants from childhood in-depth, with a significant age gap of 14-21 years between each assessment
• Participants in the Seven-Up series may feel pressure due to the periodic nature of the study
• The Millennium Cohort Study conducted from 2000-2011 with an initial sample of 19,000 participants
• The study examined health, education, and income, finding that parents who read to their children in early childhood had children who were 2 months ahead in development
• Girls consistently outperformed boys in the study, and children from poorer backgrounds were 3.2 months behind in development
• The National Child Development Study followed the lives of 17,000 individuals born during one week in 1958
• The study included 8 major surveys and collected data through questionnaires
• Parents and teachers provided informed consent until the participants reached 16 years old, raising ethical questions about parental consent for minors
• The study examined the physical, educational, and social development of participants, noting changes in family structures and dynamics
• Findings from the National Child Development Study included an increase in the standard of living, a rise in inequality, a widening income gap, a decline in marriage rates, an increase in co-habitation, and the impact of parental divorce on children's education
• Evaluations of longitudinal research:

  • Having the same participants enhances the study's reliability
  • Lack of protection from harm as participants would live their lives regardless
  • High validity due to the long-term nature of the study
  • Use of questionnaires and interviews as research characteristics
  • Participants have the right to withdraw from the study
  • No deception involved in the study
  • Interpretivists prefer longitudinal research for its in-depth nature and verstehen approach
  • Longitudinal research requires a significant amount of time
• • Informed consent is an essential ethical consideration
  • Not easily replicable due to the unique nature of long-term studies
  • High costs associated with longitudinal research
  • Access to participants can be a challenge
  • Lack of privacy for participants
  • Unrepetitive nature of longitudinal studies makes them less generalizable