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Understanding Longitudinal Data
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Understanding Longitudinal Data

  • Emily Gilbert - Principal Research Officer, London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime


October 2023 | 224 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Do you want to use longitudinal data in a research project? This book provides a strong foundation in the fundamentals of longitudinal research, helping you understand where your secondary data come from and discussing core issues in longitudinal research, such as study design, sampling, attrition and missing data.

Covering each step of the research process, from understanding theory through data collection and analysis to writing up, the book offers practical tools to give you confidence in working with longitudinal data. It also:

  • Supports your learning with features such as 'Check your Understanding' questions and further reading. 
  • Examines challenges unique to longitudinal research - and offers solutions.
  • Explores the realities of using longitudinal data with over 45 case studies of research from across the globe including Australia, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
This straightforward guide is the perfect introduction to longitudinal research for students and researchers across the social sciences.
 
Chapter 1: What is longitudinal research?
 
Chapter 2: Types of longitudinal study designs
 
Chapter 3: Understanding the sample
 
Chapter 4: Attrition and missing data
 
Chapter 5: Panel conditioning
 
Chapter 6: Respondent recall and reporting
 
Chapter 7: Question types, features and comparability
 
Chapter 8: Mode of data collection – verbal modes
 
Chapter 9: Mode of data collection – visual modes
 
Chapter 10: The implications of design choices for longitudinal studies
 
Chapter 11: Analysing longitudinal data
 
Chapter 12: Talking about longitudinal data

This is an excellent methodological book for students and researchers looking to understand the art of large-scale longitudinal data collection. Gilbert manages to convey complex concepts in a simple and succinct manner whilst providing a wide range of examples that further facilitate understanding, resulting in an exemplar teaching resource.

Stella Chatzitheochari
University of Warwick

Key text to support MA students engaging in personal research projects across wide range of educational sectors- utilised in this case for those within post-compulsory education

Mr Julian Ayres
School of Education and Community, Wrexham Glyndwr University
February 21, 2024

A must-book for both undergraduate and postgraduate research, leading to a thesis or research paper.

Dr Quazi Zaman
Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment , Robert Gordon University
December 13, 2023

Emily Gilbert

Emily is a Principal Research Officer at the London Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime. She designs and manages surveys of residents and victims of crime, focused on attitudes towards, and experiences of, policing in London. She obtained an MA in Longitudinal Social Research, followed by a PhD in Survey Methodology from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, writing her thesis on the sources of measurement error in panel surveys. She has previously worked as a Survey Manager at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, University College London, on the design and implementation of the British birth cohort... More About Author

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