Cross Sectional Surveys

What is a cross sectional study.

Cross sectional surveys. The opposite of a cross sectional study is a longitudinal study while cross sectional studies collect data from many subjects at a single point in time longitudinal studies collect data repeatedly from the same subjects over time often focusing on a smaller group of individuals that are connected by a common trait. A cross sectional study is a research where the researcher analyses a particular context group of people or else a social phenomenon through a sample. Cross sectional vs longitudinal studies.

Then they would set up a longitudinal study to study cause and effect. For example us government agencies periodically send out large surveys to random samples of the us population asking about health status and risk factors and. This study type is also known as cross sectional analysis transverse study or prevalence study.

Cross sectional studies can be done more quickly than longitudinal studies. A cross sectional study is defined as a type of observational research that analyzes data of variables collected at one given point in time across a sample population or a pre defined subset. Cross sectional surveys can thus be contrasted with.

Cross sectional studies can contain individual level data one record per individual for example in national health surveys. Cross sectional surveys conducted in europe and north america indicate that between 5 and 10 of the population have a pd coid et al 2006. Within western nations the prevalence of personality disorder tends to be higher in inner city areas where levels as high as 15 have been reported.

The participants in this type of study are selected based on particular variables of interest. However in a repeated cross sectional survey respondents to the survey at one point in time are not intentionally sampled again although a respondent to one administration of the survey could be randomly selected for a subsequent one. Characteristics of longitudinal study and cross sectional study.

A longitudinal study goes on for a longer period of time. Cross sectional surveys assess the prevalence of disease and the prevalence of risk factors at the same point in time and provide a snapshot of diseases and risk factors simultaneously in a defined population. Cross sectional studies are often used in developmental psychology but this method is also used in many other areas including social science and education.