What is a longitudinal study?
A long -term study is a research project that includes observation of one or more sample groups for a long time, anywhere from a few months to 30 years or more. Such studies are invaluable for social science; They allow scientists to monitor changes and trends in individual behavior, social development, relations and many other variables. Long -term studies can be conducted by psychologists, sociologists, medical scientists, environmental scientists, anthropologists or other experts who want to get reliable information about the population over time. For example, the psychological team for research could wish to find out whether alcoholic children were more likely than other children to later develop problems with behavior and alcoholism in their lives. The team would choose a large population of very similar children, similarly four -year -old men with alcoholic father in the city. Scientists could interview every year with children, their parents and their teachers for 20 years and record answers in the same way each year. AfterThe period of longitudinal studies would organize data about every child and seek correlations in the results to determine whether predictions of other children of alcoholics can be.
Scientists have discovered many advantages of performing longitudinal studies on laboratory experiments and short -term clinical trials. A long -term study allows scientists to observe people's changes because they live in the real world, communicate with others, experience fighting and enjoy success. The use of a longitudinal research team of study can get a better idea of how some inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis affect people throughout their lives. Long -heitable studies are also effective in monitoring social conditions, such as the level of poverty, over several decades to develop new public policies.
However, there are certain cases where longitudinal studies are less accurate than direct, clinicalExperiments and studies. A pharmaceutical company that wants to test a new medicine would probably perform several clinical trials with many different sample groups instead of watching one group of participants over time. During the controlled experiment, the company would like to learn about immediate responses and side effects to determine whether the drug is safe for the commercial market. A long -term study simply introduces too many variables to determine the effectiveness of the drug. Participants may not take the recommended doses, undergo positive or negative lifestyle changes, or report inaccurate information to scientists.