- Most students tend to start here as they have already decided on how they will collect their
- Quantitative (questionnaire)
- Qualitative (interviews)
- Now you need to decided on what type of study you will undertake
- longitudinal
- cross-sectional
- Then state it within your research method (and abstract) e.g.
This longitudinal study will explore the medium-term interaction of using energy supplements and Type-A diabetes within the over sixties British population. The longitudinal approach was selected as the monitoring and tracking stages will take 12 months.
Longitudinal Studies
- Longitudinal studies are conducted in a temporal approach
- Often over years using the same respondents\ subjects
- Results are very relevant but can take years to achieve the outcome
Cross-sectional studies
- Cross-sectional studies are snapshot of time (like a photograph)
- Using a sample of people from different age groups to provide a likely outcome
- Data can be collected within a very short period of time
- Online questionnaire can be completed by hundreds of people within one day
- Be aware of cohort effect
- Older people interpret words differently to younger people
- Older people have experienced different life events compared to younger people