longitudinal research

Question 1

longitudinal studies

Answer 1

involve studying the same participants over a long period of time, documenting any changes that occur
- periods of time could be weeks, months, years or decades
- could also include case studies (one person)

Question 2

uses of longitudinal studies in clinical (A)

Answer 2

• used to see how a disorder develops and impacts an individual’s functioning over time using the same participants = high standardisation + reliabilty
• measures the long-term effects of treatments, therapies, or interventions, helping to determine whether improvements are sustained or relapse occurs = help establish whether observed improvements / relapses are due to the treatment itself rather than external factors
• help clinicians identify early symptoms or behaviors that may signal the future development of a disorder = consistent predictions increase PREDICTIVE validity

Question 3

what are the strengths of using longitudinal studies?

Answer 3

• uses the same group of participants throughput the entire study over long periods of time = participant variables affect the data collected, increasing validity
• best ways of spotting developmental trends as they regularly repeat tests and compare findings

Question 4

what is an examp!e of longitudinal study I already know?

Answer 4

sherif et Al, who carried out a prospective longitudinal study of 22 boys over the course of 3 weeks in the Robbers Cave summer cam

Question 5

what are weaknesses of using longitudinal studies?

Answer 5

• practical issues - expensive, time consuming and the dsta collection and analysis can vary in its strength if the researchers change overtime
• clinical psychology is always developing and updating, so longitudinal data maybe becomd outdated as they take years to produce and analyse
• certain participants from the group may move away or wish to no longer participate, disrupting the study

Question 6

what are prospective longitudinal studies

Answer 6

studiesthat take a cohort who don’t have anything special in common and follow them to see if they start differing from each other “into the future”

Question 7

how are longitudinal studies carried out?

Answer 7

longitudinal studies recruit a group of people at the same point in time (the cohort) and then researchers will conduct several observations of the same subjects throughout the entire study regulariy