I'm really glad that Lyn wrote in response to this and also that others
raised and discussed the issue. Before Lyn wrote I was thinking 'oh dear. I
had better not call my study longitudinal anymore'. I have being conducting
a research project using predominantly qualitative methods where I re-visit
people and teams over a 15 month period of time, or more. However, there are
no 'fixed' variables, other than the individuals and teams (and they're are
not very fixed at all!). So, I will be very interested in any future noise
on this one.
bets wishes,
Alan Simpson
Brighton, UK.
>From: Lyn Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: qual-software <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Longitudinal studies
>Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 23:21:55 +1000
>
>Ali, you really started something! Harald's clear definition and Nick's
>detailed one after him are totally different from Nicola's - and like me
>most listers probably recognised all of them in our training.
>
> > Ali Moazzam wrote: Can any body let me know that what are Longitudinal
>studies. What are they, why are they done and how are they done.
>
>Harald wrote: > Longitudinal studies are studies over a period of time.
>That
>means, you do your research not only once, but twice or more times, and you
>do it unchanged to compare the results over time. The rationale behind
>longitudinal studies are that you are interested in time effects.
>
>and Nick: >A longitudinal study looks at some variable in a particular
>group
>of subjects over an extended period of time (years, normally). Longitudinal
>studies are often used in developmental psychology or in assessing risk
>factors for diseases. While often the most desirable method to use, they
>can
>be impractical for several reasons: they are expensive, they take a long
>time (!), they often need large numbers of subjects, and it can be hard to
>keep track of all your subjects for so long (and some may drop out of your
>study anyway).
>
>Then Nicola: >Longitudinal simply means data is collected over an extended
>period of time as opposed to a single point in time.
>
>Sure that I had termed the study that made my third book "longitudinal", in
>Nicola's meaning, but equally sure that Harald's and Nick's are very
>relevant to any social research, I sought definitions in the qualitative
>context - via a quick dash thru the index entries in the 15 or so
>qualitative books on my desk - (a limited and nonrandom selection, but it
>is
>after 11 pm here in Melbourne.) The quite fascinating outcome is that
>virtually none index "longitudinal" - including Schwandt's dictionary of
>terms in Qual Inquiry. (They mostly end "L" entries at life or logic, a
>nice
>insight!) The only two I found have the briefest of one-para mentions of
>the
>term - and one in each of the senses of the word the list has been given.
>The latest Denzin and Lincoln has one index entry for "longitudinal" - to
>the spirited chapter on clinical research by Miller and Crabtree where they
>are talking (p 620) about multimethod designs - and it means "a series of
>studies". (The previous edition has no entry). The second find is in Carol
>Grbich's "Qual Research in Health" where (p 158) she is describing
>ethnography: "Longitudinal observations are undertaken within particular
>contexts". There is a thorough intro section on longitudinal designs in
>Schutt's college text Investigating the Social World, but whilst he has a
>chapter on qualitative research (and a just great Appendix to it :-)) guess
>where the discussion of longitudinal design isn't!
>
>I suspect qualitative researchers need to get this one thought out - and
>certainly I do - does anyone know a good discussion of longitudinal qual
>research? I wondered about this a while back when writing about cross-time
>and cross-team coder reliability. And yes, I checked, and in "Nobody's
>Home", I did refer to the study as a "longitudinal community study" - in
>Nicola's meaning that I collected data over a (what then seemed
>interminable) period of time. I did it in order to study change, not an
>unchanged situation and certainly didn't (couldn't!) control any of the
>variables or the subjects - the case was the changing community. Not a
>longitudinal study? Or, more interestingly, should I have had the design
>sharpened by the methodological rules of the "other" sense of longitudinal?
>
>Thanks Ali, but sorry to make it more confusing
>
>cheers
>
>Lyn
>
>Lyn Richards,
>Director, Research Services, QSR.
>(email) [log in to unmask]
>(Ph) +61 3 9459 1699 (Fax) +61 3 9459 0435
>(snail) Box 171, La Trobe University PO, Vic 3083, Australia.
>http://www.qsr <http://www.qsr/> international.com
>
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
|