Identify the three developmental approaches to research. Give two advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Which is the most practical, and which is the most ideal?
What will be an ideal response?
Ans: The three developmental approaches covered in the Devlin text are longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cohort-sequential. The longitudinal method involves testing one group of participants over a number of testing periods. The cross-sectional design involves testing several groups of participants at one time of measurement. The cohort-sequential combines the other two. The advantages of the longitudinal include being more sure that the changes you see are associated with the maturation of the individuals. The design lessens the cohort effect because you are only following one generation or group of people—no difference between the group of people at time A versus the group of people at time B. Disadvantages of the longitudinal design include time and money. You have to follow the people over a long period of time—and many students and even faculty members do not have that luxury. The money is involved in keeping track of participants—sending them Christmas cards to make sure you still have the right address and so on. The advantages of cross-sectional research include time and money. This design is the most practical because it is the most doable. You do not have to spend money on databases and research assistants to keep track of participants. You do not have to follow up with people because it is one and done. The disadvantages include cohort effects and time of measurement effects. Cohort effects can be thought of as the differences in culture associated with a particular generation. The different generations differ in more than just age. They differ in experience with technology and education and those things cannot be factored away. Time of measurement refers to the time period when you conducted the research. There could be something unique about the time you gave the study that interferes with your ability to interpret the results. The cohort-sequential takes care of many of the problems of the other designs by allowing the researcher to test for the cohort and other effects. It does not eliminate the problems with time and money—and in fact exacerbates those problems. In conclusion, the cross-sectional is the most practical, and the cohort-sequential is the most ideal. Still, we do the best we can do with the time and money we have.
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