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	Longitudinell forskning	Deskriptiv forskning
Ämnesområde	Forskningsdesign	Forskningsdesign
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	Late 19th–early 20th century; methodologically codified through the 20th century	Late 19th century; formalized in social/behavioral sciences ~1960s–1980s
Upphovsperson	No single originator; foundational methodological treatments by Stuart Menard and Judith Singer & John Willett	Francis Galton, Karl Pearson (early empirical tradition); formalized in social science by Fred Kerlinger
Typ	Quantitative (or mixed) observational research design	Non-experimental quantitative research design
Ursprungskälla	Menard, S. (2002). Longitudinal Research (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-0761922841	Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1452226101
Alias	longitudinal study, longitudinal design, prospective longitudinal study, repeated-measures observational study	descriptive study, descriptive survey design, observational descriptive research, non-experimental descriptive research
Närliggande	4	3
Sammanfattning	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.	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.