Longitudinal Studies - What they are, links to theory, examples of use, advantages and disadvantages, PDF

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What they are, links to theory, examples of use, advantages and disadvantages, ...

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Longitudinal Studies: Are… • A research project following a group of people over a lengthy period of time. Measures changes in attitudes and behaviour over time. Links to Theory: • Quantitative – researchers gather a wealth of descriptive/numerical data at intervals to enable them to make comparisons between groups and change over time periods. • Positivistic – explores differences between groups and how their social position influences their lives. Correlations are formed and general statements about particular social groups are made. Examples of use • Child Health and Education Survey – follows the lives of every child born between 39 March 1958 • 7 UP – Granada TV series – follows a group of children from the age of 7 years (in the early 1960s) – at 7 year intervals to see how their expectations at 7 have been met etc • JWB Douglas – All Our Future – followed a group of children throughout their school careers. (see EDUCATION NOTES) • West & Farrington – Who Becomes Delinquent? – followed 411 London boys from aged 8 until they were 18 years old – see what factors were linked to delinquency. Advantages • Useful for making comparisons – see what stays the same and what changes over time. Better than just a snapshot impression. • Keeping the same sample – allows for a more specific study to take place. • Large scale social movements can be mapped –useful for seeing how social groups behave and characteristics influence their development and experiences, ie) social class, ethnicity – of various institutions; education, health, crime etc Disadvantages • Sample shrinkage – death, immigration, refusal to continue – study loses its representativeness. • Representativeness – over time the demographic population may change and therefore the original sample is no longer representative. • Changing research interests – concerns of 40 years ago may not be relevant today. If study focus changes then ‘comparability of data’ is undermined. • Sample membership and their response – people may alter their behaviour if they know they are being studied over time. • Cost – very expensive – need a dedicated/focused team. • Research team may change over time. • The problems aimed at most quantitative data methods (see theory notes)...