Name that study
Researchers survey different groups of U.S. adults every five years to see how television viewing habits are changing. What type of longitudinal study is this?
Trend study
What type of research collects data at multiple points in time?
Longitudinal Research
Researchers select people today and ask them to remember their behavior from several years ago. What design is this?
Retrospective Panel
Why is the order of events important when studying possible causation?
The cause must precede the effect.
What type of research collects data at only one point in time?
Cross-sectional research
Researchers study people who all graduated from college in 2025 to see how their media habits change as they age. What type of study is this?
Cohort analysis
What term describes participants dropping out of a study over time?
Attrition
Researchers collect information from people today and then locate older records about those same people. What design is this?
Follow-back panel
Before researchers consider whether one variable causes another, the two variables must first be what?
Related or correlated
What is the defining feature of longitudinal research?
Data is collected at different points in time
Researchers survey the same 500 people every year for five years. What type of study is this?
Panel Study
What is a cohort effect?
A difference associated with the unique experiences of a particular group or generation.
Researchers find participants from an older study and collect new information from them today. What design is this?
Catch-up panel
Besides correlation and time order, what else must researchers consider when studying causation?
Other possible explanations or variables
What is one major advantage of a panel study?
Researchers can observe how the same individuals change over time
What is the main difference between a trend study and a panel study?
Trend studies use different samples from the same population; panel studies repeatedly study the same people.
What problem can happen when people take the same survey multiple times?
Sensitization
Which special panel design is especially vulnerable to inaccurate memories?
Retrospective panel
What type of analysis can help researchers examine which of two variables may come first over time?
Cross-lagged correlation/analysis
Can longitudinal research include both numerical surveys and in-depth interviews?
Yes, it can include both quantitative and qualitative data
Researchers want to determine whether social media use changes individual students' self-esteem between freshman and senior year. Which longitudinal design would be most appropriate?
Panel study, because the same students can be followed over time.
Why can attrition create a problem with representativeness?
Too many people dropping out can make the sample less representative.
A researcher finds a study conducted on college freshmen in 2015, locates those same participants in 2026, and surveys them again. What design is being used?
Catch-up panel
A study finds that increased social media use at Time 1 is followed by lower self-esteem at Time 2. Does this automatically prove social media caused lower self-esteem?
No. It establishes time order and supports a possible relationship
Internet panels make repeated data collection easier, but what major problem should researchers consider?
Representativeness: people participating in an internet panel may not accurately represent the larger population.