Cross sectional research is a study in which subjects of different ages are compared at the same time. It is often used in developmental psychology, but also utilized in many other areas including social science, education and other branches of science. This type of study utilizes different groups of people who differ in the variable of interest, but share other characteristics such as socioeconomic status, educational background and ethnicity [3, 4]. Show
DescriptionResearchers studying developmental psychology may select groups of people who are remarkably similar in most areas, but differ only in age. By doing this, any differences between groups can presumably be attributed to age differences rather than to other variables [3]. While the design sounds relatively simple, finding participants who are very similar except in one specific variable can be very difficult [2]. Additionally, groups can be affected by cohort differences that arise from the particular experiences of a... This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution. Buying optionsChapter EUR 29.95 Price includes VAT (Singapore)
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Learn about institutional subscriptions Gratton, C., & Jones, I. (2004). Research methods for sports studies. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). Time in research. Research methods knowledge base. Web center for social research methods. Retrieved January 6, 2009, from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ti medim.php Van Wagner, K. (n.d.). Research methods in developmental psychology. Retrieved January 6, 2009, from http://psychology.about.com/od/developmental psychology/a/devresearch.htm Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2008). Psychology (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Google Scholar Download references Author informationAuthors and Affiliations
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Corresponding authorCorrespondence to Carol D. Daniels . Editor informationEditors and Affiliations
Rights and permissionsReprints and Permissions Copyright information© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC About this entryCite this entryDaniels, C.D. (2011). Cross-Sectional Research. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_735 \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)
Now you know about some tools used to conduct research with infants and young children. Research methods are the tools that are used to collect information. Research design is the strategy or blueprint for deciding how to collect and analyze information. Research design dictates which methods are used and how. Researchers typically focus on two distinct types of comparisons when conducting developmental research. The first kind of comparison examines change within individuals. As the name suggests, this type of analysis measures the ways in which a specific person changes (or remains the same) over time. For example, a Lifespan Psychology scientist might be interested in studying the same group of infants at 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months to examine how vocabulary and grammar change over time. This kind of question would be best answered using a longitudinal research design. Another sort of comparison focuses on changes between groups. In this type of analysis, researchers study average changes in behavior between groups of different ages. Returning to the language example, a scientist might study the vocabulary and grammar used by 12-month-olds, 18-month-olds, and 24-month-olds to examine how language abilities change with age. This kind of question would be best answered using a cross-sectional research design. Longitudinal Research DesignsLongitudinal research designs are used to examine behavior in the same subjects over time. For example, when considering our example of hide-and-seek behaviors in preschoolers, a researcher might conduct a longitudinal study to examine whether 2-year-olds develop into better hiders over time. To this end, a researcher might observe a group of 2-year-old children playing hide-and-seek with plans to observe them again when they are 4 years old – and again when they are 6 years old. This study is longitudinal in nature because the researcher plans to study the same children as they age. Based on her data, the researcher might conclude that 2-year-olds develop more mature hiding abilities with age. Remember, researchers examine games such as hide-and-seek not because they are interested in the games themselves, but because they offer clues to how children think, feel, and behave at various ages.  Longitudinal studies may be conducted over the short term (over a span of months, as in Wiebe, Lukowski, & Bauer, 2010) or over much longer durations (years or decades, as in Lukowski et al., 2010). For these reasons, longitudinal research designs are optimal for studying stability and change over time. Longitudinal research also has limitations, however. For one, longitudinal studies are expensive: they require that researchers maintain continued contact with participants over time, and they necessitate that scientists have funding to conduct their work over extended durations (from infancy to when participants were 19 years old in Lukowski et al., 2010). An additional risk is attrition. Attrition occurs when participants fail to complete all portions of a study. Participants may move, change their phone numbers, or simply become disinterested in participating over time. Researchers should account for the possibility of attrition by enrolling a larger sample into their study initially, as some participants will likely drop out over time. The results from longitudinal studies may also be impacted by repeated assessments. Consider how well you would do on a math test if you were given the exact same exam every day for a week. Your performance would likely improve over time not necessarily because you developed better math abilities, but because you were continuously practicing the same math problems. This phenomenon is known as a practice effect. Practice effects occur when participants become better at a task over time because they have done it again and again; not due to natural psychological development. A final limitation of longitudinal research is that the results may be impacted by cohort effects. Cohort effects occur when the results of the study are affected by the particular point in historical time during which participants are tested. As an example, think about how peer relationships in childhood have likely changed since February 2004 – the month and year Facebook was founded. Cohort effects can be problematic in longitudinal research because only one group of participants are tested at one point in time – different findings might be expected if participants of the same ages were tested at different points in historical time. Cross-sectional designsCross-sectional research designs are used to examine behavior in participants of different ages who are tested at the same point in time. When considering our example of hide-and-seek behaviors in children, for example, a researcher might want to examine whether older children more often hide in novel locations (those in which another child in the same game has never hidden before) when compared to younger children. In this case, the researcher might observe 2-, 4-, and 6-year-old children as they play the game (the various age groups represent the “cross sections”). This research is cross-sectional in nature because the researcher plans to examine the behavior of children of different ages within the same study at the same time. Based on her data, the researcher might conclude that 2-year-olds more commonly hide in previously-searched locations relative to 6-year-olds. Cross-sectional designs are useful for many reasons. Because participants of different ages are tested at the same point in time, data collection can proceed at a rapid pace. In addition, because participants are only tested at one point in time, practice effects are not an issue – children do not have the opportunity to become better at the task over time. Cross-sectional designs are also more cost-effective than longitudinal research designs because there is no need to maintain contact with and follow-up on participants over time. It should be noted that studies that look at subjects of different ages at one point in time are just one type cross-sectional study. Cross-sectional studies can also be used to look at cultural differences (cross-cultural studies) and are also commonly used in health-related studies where subjects differ not by age, but by exposure to some risk factor. Cross-sectional studies are typically descriptive studies that produce correlational data. This is true regardless of how the subjects studied differ. One of the primary limitations of cross-sectional research is that the results yield information on age-related change, not development per se. That is, although the study described above can show that 6-year-olds are more advanced in their hiding behavior than 2-year-olds, the data used to come up with this conclusion were collected from different children. It could be, for instance, that this specific sample of 6-year-olds just happened to be particularly clever at hide-and-seek. As such, the researcher cannot conclude that 2-year-olds develop into better hiders with age; she can only state that 6-year-olds, on average, are more sophisticated hiders relative to children 4 years younger. As addressed earlier, one can only determine a cause and effect relationship when an experiment is done. In order to determine that turning age six caused a change in behavior, we would have to be able to manipulate age (it would need to be an independent variable in an experiment). As this is not possible, we are limited to making observational conclusions as opposed to causal ones. Sequential research designsSequential research designs include elements of both longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs. Similar to longitudinal designs, sequential research features participants who are followed over time; similar to cross-sectional designs, sequential work includes participants of different ages. This research design is also distinct from those that have been discussed previously in that children of different ages are enrolled into a study at various points in time to examine age-related changes, development within the same individuals as they age, and account for the possibility of cohort effects. Consider, once again, our example of hide-and-seek behaviors. In a study with a sequential design, a researcher might enroll three separate groups of children (Groups A, B, and C). Children in Group A would be enrolled when they are 2 years old and would be tested again when they are 4 and 6 years old (similar in design to the longitudinal study described previously). Children in Group B would be enrolled when they are 4 years old and would be tested again when they are 6 and 8 years old. Finally, children in Group C would be enrolled when they are 6 years old and would be tested again when they are 8 and 10 years old. Studies with sequential designs are powerful because they allow for both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons. This research design also allows for the examination of cohort effects. For example, the researcher could examine the hide-and-seek behavior of 6-year-olds in Groups A, B, and C to determine whether performance differed by group when participants were the same age. If performance differences were found, there would be evidence for a cohort effect. In the hide-and-seek example, this might mean that children from different time periods varied in the amount they giggled or how patient they are when waiting to be found. Sequential designs are also appealing because they allow researchers to learn a lot about development in a relatively short amount of time. In the previous example, a four-year research study would provide information about 8 years of developmental time by enrolling children ranging in age from two to ten years old. Because they include elements of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, sequential research has many of the same strengths and limitations as these other approaches. For example, sequential work may require less time and effort than longitudinal research, but more time and effort than cross-sectional research. Although practice effects may be an issue if participants are asked to complete the same tasks or assessments over time, attrition may be less problematic than what is commonly experienced in longitudinal research since participants may not have to remain involved in the study for such a long period of time. When considering the best research design to use in their research, scientists think about their main research question and the best way to come up with an answer. A table of advantages and disadvantages for each of the described research designs is provided here to help you as you consider what sorts of studies would be best conducted using each of these different approaches. Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Research DesignsResearch DesignAdvantagesDisadvantagesLongitudinal
2.6: Approaches to Studying Change Over Time is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. What is the type of research in which people of different ages are compared at the same point in time?Cross sectional research is a study in which subjects of different ages are compared at the same time. It is often used in developmental psychology, but also utilized in many other areas including social science, education and other branches of science.
What type of research design is used when people of different ages are compared at the same point in time quizlet?Cross-sectional research compares people of different ages with one another at the same point in time. In contrast, longitudinal research traces the behavior of one or more participants as the participants become older.
Which design is best for studying age related changes?A main advantage of a cross-sectional design is that it allows researchers to gather information about different age groups in a short period of time. They also offer great ways to discover and document age-related differences associated with certain behaviors.
Which research design would allow them to measure changes with age and within individuals over time?For understanding change processes, longitudinal studies provide many advantages relative to cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal data permit the direct estimation of parameters at multiple levels of analysis, each of which is complementary to understanding population and individual change with age.
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