evaluate longitudinal studies (20)

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

-a longitudinal study refers to research that is done over a long period of time
-the sample remains the same at each interval of time to allow us to see changes in society or behaviour over time
-for example, ppts may be interviewed at regular intervals throughout their childhood to monitor their development

Question 2

practical (weakness)

Answer 2

-the practicality of a research method refers to how easy it is to conduct, looking at access to locations, funding, time, and ppts
-longitudinal studies are generally not very practical, this is because they are time consuming and costly to conduct as they take place over a long period of time
-in addition to this, because the research goes on for such an extended period of time, much of the research gathered is not useful, which is a waste of time and resources

Question 3

ethical (weakness)

Answer 3

-the BSA issues a “statements of ethical conduct” which encourages researchers to consider factors such as harm, deception, privacy and confidentiality of the ppt. Ethical research must consider the impact the study may have on both the ppts and the researcher themselves
-longitudinal studies are unethical as not all interviewers gain rapport with their ppts, which is important when dealing with sensitive topics such as illness or death (which are bound to be relevant topics if the ppts are followed through their whole lives)

Question 4

theory (strength?)

Answer 4

-Positivism is an approach to sociological research based on social facts. They believe we shouldn’t go beyond the boundaries of what is observed and prefer quantitative methods of research because statistics are factual and measurable, allowing for comparisons between groups/the findings
-Interpretivism is an approach to social research that emphasises the need to understand people’s beliefs, attitudes, and motives towards their actions to better understand society. They believe that human behaviour is complex and cannot be reduced to simple cause and effect relationships
-both Positivists and Interpretivists like longitudinal studies as a wide range of data collection methods are generally used, including standardised procedures (liked by Positivists) and extended research and triangulation (liked by Interpretivists)

Question 5

reliability (strength)

Answer 5

-reliability refers to the repeatability of a study, so if the study were to be replicated it would produce the same results
-longitudinal studies are usually highly reliable as they follow a standardised procedure, mainly asking the same questions but tailoring them to be more age appropriate as the study goes on
-they generally use questionnaires and structured interviews, which collect quantitative data, which is easy to analyse and repeat, making them highly reliable as a research method
-eg. the British Households Panel Survey ask ppts to complete a questionnaire face to face or online every year from every household across the UK over the age of 16

Question 6

representativeness (weakness)

Answer 6

-representativeness is the extent to which a sample mirrors the researcher’s target population and reflects it’s characteristics
-longitudinal studies usually start by being highly representative as they tend to use a random sampling method, which leads to large and diverse samples
-however, attrition can negatively impact the representativeness of a study, and attrition rates are usually high in longitudinal studies as people being studied over a long time are more likely to drop out, eg. men have lower life expectancy than women and the lower class have a lower life expectancy than higher classes. Other issues such as emigration or failure to trace also lead to attrition

Question 7

validity (strength)

Answer 7

-the validity of a research method refers to how detailed and accurate the study’s results are
-longitudinal studies have high validity
-due to the data being gathered on the same people over a long period of time, we can gain a large amount of detail and understanding, allowing for verstehen
-eg. the Millennium Cohort Study used a variety of research methods, such as physical and emotional health measures, and online questionnaires and interviews