Perhaps the most fundamental design consideration for a new longitudinal study is whether it will take a prospective or a retrospective approach.
As described in the Introduction to longitudinal research module, prospective studies follow individuals over a period of time and collect information about them as their characteristics and circumstances change.
In contrast, retrospective studies start collecting data at a later point in people’s lives and fill in earlier ‘gaps’ by asking participants to recall information about their earlier lives, or by linking their survey responses to government-held administrative data (for example, tax records or scores on standardised school tests).
In reality, many studies use a mixture of both approaches. As no participants are constantly monitored, they will always be asked to remember back over the past year or few years, depending on when they were last interviewed. Longitudinal study teams make careful decisions about what information can be recalled with reasonable accuracy, and what information must be collected prospectively or ‘in the moment’.
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