Research Design and Analysis
-Peiffer recently conducted a study on marital satisfaction. After surveying 100 married couples, she found that couples who commit to a date night once a week report higher marital satisfaction than those who do not date weekly. To further investigate her findings, she asked 50 unhappy couples to date once a week. After 12 weeks, she found that all of the couples reported an increase in marital satisfaction. She wanted to know if this was a short-term effect or if it could lead to increased marital satisfaction over a longer term. She asked 50 newlywed couples to date weekly and she surveyed them once a year over the course of the marriage. What type of study does this describe?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A longitudinal study is one that involves repeated data collection or observations over long periods of time. This rules out short-term changes that could be transitory. In this example, a longitudinal study will help Dr. Peifffer better understand if regular date nights have a causal relationship to marital satisfaction over the long term.