Longitudinal designs

REPLY 5-1 JWJ (125 words and 1 reference)
Longitudinal designs are a unique type of research method that is characterized by observing the lives of participants over time. Terman’s study of giftedness, for example, contacted the participants every 5 or 10 years. With the data they gathered in the 75 years, over 100 articles and almost a dozen books have been written (Goleman, 1995). Longitudinal studies allow researchers to analyze groups of people over many years. This type of study can yield a good understanding of cause-and-effect links that may be missed in other studies. However, there is no perfect research design and there are some problems with this type of design. For example, there are threats in internal validity as the participants may drop out of the study over time (Privitera, 2018). In some cases, there is motivation from the participants to complete the study and that motivation and not age has determined the change (Privitera, 2018). In other cases, the participants may learn to take the assessment and that could lead to inaccurate results.
REPLY 5-1 RC (125 words and 1 reference)
A longitudinal design study observes changes across the life span by observing the same participants over time as they age (Privitera, 2020). Lewis Terman started a longitudinal study on gifted children in 1921 that is still going today by other psychologist. This study is amazing to read about because the amount of time that it has continued and the different generations it has studied is significant. There are many benefits with a study of this type. As times change so do the way kids learn and how teachers teach. There are programs and special opportunities now that were not available in the 1920’s and can significantly increase the success rate of these gifted children. While reading about Terman and his thoughts on people, his motivation for this type of study could have at best been questionable. There was an article that discussed Termans motivations that have been questioned such as the sterilization of certain traits in certain individuals (Cherry, 2020). The cons/limitations of conducting a longitudinal study are the amount of time and money that is required throughout the years to keep it going. Another problem is that participants are known to drop out after so many years. People tend to not want to participate in something once they move on to new chapters of their lives. If longitudinal study depend on surveys to provide the most information they set themselves up for report bias because people can lie on surveys (Simkus, 2021).
REPLY 5-2 JT (125 words and 1 reference)
Quasi-experimental design is most useful in situations where it would be unethical or impractical to run a true experiment. Explanatory research method is superior then the predictive method because, in the explanatory research method, it attempts to look out for the cause of every question (how, why, when, where) and tries to answer it and also explain the possible effect of the cause. Quasi-experimental studies encompass a broad range of nonrandomized intervention studies. These designs are frequently used when it is not logistically feasible or ethical to conduct a randomized controlled trial. A true experiment uses random assignment of the participants while quasi-experiments does not. This allows its wide use in ethical problems. Quasi-experiments allot the participants based on a study, unlike true experiments where they have an equal chance of getting into any of the groups. Here are a few of the reasons why quasi-experimental design may be chosen over true experimental design: Ethical concerns are common when working with human subjects. The researcher may be interested in studying a pre-determined group (such as a specific class of students).