HLTHAGE 2A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Cohort Study, General Social Survey, Longitudinal Study

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Health, Aging and Society
• Course: HLTHAGE 2A03
• Professor: Jessica Gish

Document Summary

Issues in research design and the logic of causation. Cross-sectional studies: observes a population, event, or phenomenon at one point in time, takes a snapshot of the phenomenon of interest, uses different respondents, e. g. , 2001 census; 2008 general social survey. Time dimension: cross-sectional, longitudinal, trend, cohort, panel. Advantages: inexpensive, provides a more complex, avoids committing the life course fallacy - does not mix up cohort with age effects. Disadvantages: cannot capture social processes or change, dif cult to generalize from one point in time, costly, is complex design, attrition happens. Time-series or trend study: examines changes within a population over a period of time, uses independent samples of not the same individuals, e. g. , compares data from the 2006 & 2001 cansus. Basic: three cohorts born in 1940, 1950 and 1960. I-60: conducted at one point in time (1980) for groups of people born in different decades (1940,