Methods in Behavioral Research

Question: Describe about the Methods in behavioralresearch and A description of a study that you could do using either a longitudinal or cross-sectional method. Describe how you would do each study and discuss the pros and cons of each. ? Answer: Applying study by both a longitudinal or cross-sectional method and discussing its pros and cons The ideology behind the longitudinal and cross sectional study is to develop the best practice for collecting useful and actionable data in a successful manner. Longitudinal study does not take the edge over cross sectional study; rather they both serve a crucial purpose in variant ways. The longitudinal study is usually observational in nature and its uniqueness lies in the timeline. For example, psychologists prefer implementing longitudinal studies to measure the effect of therapy practices over time, by utilizing the control group as the baseline (Cozby, Bates, 2011). The researcher could observe the same subjects multiple times over the course of years. In contrast to the longitudinal study, Cross-sectional study is a kind of observational research that contrasts multiple populations at a single point of time. For example, multiple measurements are taken in case of jogging heart rate, blood pressure and body mass index varies from one place to another. Instead of acquiring data from a single variable, a cross section study frames itself to visualize differences amongst the subsets of population in various categories (Meltzoff, 1998). The Pros and Cons of Cross sectional and longitudinal studies are as follows: Longitudinal Method Cross-Sectional Method Pros Capability to present the patterns of variable over time Discovering sleeper effects or connections between two different events over a long time duration Pros Ability to reach Observational Conclusion at a brisk rate Ability to signify entire population rather than subsets Cons Panel Attrition They are usually pre-determined by nature and have less access to touch points Panel conditioning Cons Inability to deliver conclusive observations Hard to decide on temporal relationship between outcomes and exposure due to lack of time References Cozby, P. C., Bates, S. C. (2011) Methods in behavioralresearch (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Meltzoff, J. (1998). Critical thinking about research: Psychology and related fields Washington, DC: American Psychological Association