Study Designs for Researching Child Development

Descriptive - describes observed behavior but does not try to find cause and effect. This includes both structured and naturalistic observations. The maturational theorist Gesell used this method in determining typical behavior at various ages.

Interviews, questionnaires, and self-reports - can be structured or open-ended, meaning reliability can be a problem. For example, we do not know the exact amount of alcohol that will cause developmental abnormalities like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome because information is gathered from the self-reports of mothers.

Cross sectional - when researchers study different age groups are at the same time.

Longitudinal - an approach where the same children are studied at different ages over time (cross-sectional and longitudinal designs can be combined).

Correlational design - looks at the relationship between two or more variables but does not try to prove cause and effect. For example, we know that teacher training improves child-care quality but can’t say that it is causal.

Ethnography - a descriptive method used to understand social groups or cultures.

Experimental - finds causes by manipulating an independent variable to see how it affects the variable being studied. For example, in research to determine if fluoride prevents cavities, the number of cavities (the variable being studied) in the teeth of children who were given fluoride (independent variable) is compared to the number in those who were not.

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