Longitudinal Data Analysis

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Basic Longitudinal Analysis Approaches for Continuous and Categorical Variables

Jason T. Newsom

Portland State University

 

Are social ties winnowed in one’s later years? What factors cause body weight to increase as one ages? Does serial recall decrease more rapidly for those with physical health problems than for healthy individuals? These questions are just a few examples of the kinds of research questions that aging, health, and social science researchers ask on a daily basis but can only be answered with longitudinal data. Although longitudinal research designs offer some important advantages over cross-sectional designs, such as describing and explaining change over time, graduate training in most social science programs offers little ...