Comparer des méthodes

	Recherche descriptive transversale	Recherche longitudinale	Recherche par enquête
Domaine	Conception de la recherche	Conception de la recherche	Conception de la recherche
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	Mid-20th century (1950s–1970s, widespread codification)	Late 19th–early 20th century; methodologically codified through the 20th century	Late 19th century; methodologically systematised 1940s–1960s
Auteur d'origine	Rooted in survey methodology traditions; formalized in epidemiology and social science research design texts of the mid-20th century	No single originator; foundational methodological treatments by Stuart Menard and Judith Singer & John Willett	Francis Galton, Charles Booth, and early social statisticians; systematised by Paul Lazarsfeld and colleagues at Columbia in the 1940s
Type	Quantitative observational research design	Quantitative (or mixed) observational research design	Quantitative (and mixed) non-experimental design
Source fondatrice	Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1452226101	Menard, S. (2002). Longitudinal Research (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-0761922841	Fowler, F. J. (2014). Survey Research Methods (5th ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-1452259000
Alias	cross-sectional survey, descriptive cross-sectional study, prevalence study, one-shot descriptive survey	longitudinal study, longitudinal design, prospective longitudinal study, repeated-measures observational study	survey methodology, questionnaire research, survey design, survey study
Apparentées	3	4	4
Résumé	Cross-sectional descriptive research collects data from a population or sample at a single point in time to portray the current distribution of characteristics, attitudes, behaviors, or conditions. It answers 'what is happening now?' questions without manipulating variables or following participants over time. Widely used in epidemiology, education, psychology, and the social sciences, it is the foundation for prevalence estimates, needs assessments, and baseline profiling.	Longitudinal research is an observational design in which the same participants, groups, or units are measured repeatedly over an extended period. Rather than capturing a single snapshot, it tracks change, stability, and temporal sequencing of variables — making it the primary non-experimental strategy for studying development, growth, decline, and the unfolding of causal processes across time.	Survey research is a quantitative (and sometimes mixed-methods) design in which a researcher collects standardised self-report data from a sample drawn from a defined population, using a questionnaire or structured interview. It is the dominant non-experimental strategy for describing population characteristics, estimating prevalence, mapping attitude distributions, and testing bivariate or multivariate associations across social, behavioural, and health sciences.