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	Deskriptiv forskning	Longitudinell forskning	Panelstudier
Ämnesområde	Forskningsdesign	Forskningsdesign	Forskningsdesign
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	Late 19th century; formalized in social/behavioral sciences ~1960s–1980s	Late 19th–early 20th century; methodologically codified through the 20th century	1970s-1980s (econometric formalization); earlier social survey use from 1940s
Upphovsperson	Francis Galton, Karl Pearson (early empirical tradition); formalized in social science by Fred Kerlinger	No single originator; foundational methodological treatments by Stuart Menard and Judith Singer & John Willett	Social science and econometric traditions; systematized by Cheng Hsiao and others from the 1970s-1980s
Typ	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Quantitative (or mixed) observational research design	Quantitative longitudinal observational design
Ursprungskälla	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	Hsiao, C. (2003). Analysis of Panel Data (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0521522717
Alias	descriptive study, descriptive survey design, observational descriptive research, non-experimental descriptive research	longitudinal study, longitudinal design, prospective longitudinal study, repeated-measures observational study	panel study, panel survey, longitudinal panel, repeated-measures panel
Närliggande	3	4	3
Sammanfattning	Descriptive research is a non-experimental quantitative design that systematically documents the characteristics, frequencies, or distributions of variables in a defined population at a given point in time. It answers 'what is' questions — who, what, when, where, and how much — without manipulating variables or drawing causal conclusions. It is one of the most widely used research designs across the social, behavioral, health, and education sciences.	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.	Panel research is a quantitative longitudinal design in which the same individuals, organizations, or other units are measured repeatedly across two or more time points. Unlike cross-sectional surveys that capture a single snapshot, a panel tracks change within units, enabling researchers to separate genuine within-unit change from between-unit differences and to model causal dynamics over time.