Studies on development

Question 1

Longitudinal Studies

Answer 1

focuses on age changes by selecting one group of participants and studying them for an extended period. This allows the researcher to see how behaviour evolves and changes over time within the same group of people.

Question 2

Cross-Sectional studies

Answer 2

focus on age differences by selecting cohorts from different age catergories and studying them at the same time. This allows the researcher to see how behaviour evolves and changes over time without having to wait 40 years.

Question 3

Advantages of Longitudinal Studies

Answer 3

developmental trends can be spotted easily as tests are repeated at regular intervals over many years and findings are compared.
-Same person is tested numerous times therefore participant variables are controlled.

Question 4

Advantages of Cross-Sectional Studies

Answer 4

-Relatively quick and cheap because participants only need to be tested once for comparisons and no follow up study necessary
-Participants easier to obtain because less pressure them to take part compared to having to stick with a long term longitudinal study.

Question 5

Disadvantages of Longitudinal Studies

Answer 5

-High attrition (drop out) rate because the researcher takes so long. As a result the sample is left small which makes it a biased sample.
-Participants are more likely to be more aware of the aims of the study so many show demand characteristics

Question 6

Disadvantages of Cross sectional studies

Answer 6

-Difficult to determine why there are differences between 2 cohorts because participants can’t always be asked abouyt their differences
-Data collected is from a snapshot in time so it’s harder to analyse and identify developmental trends in these studies.