Cross-Sectional Research Designs

Synonyms

Between-person designs; Cross-sectional design; Research designs

Definition

The term cross-sectional research design is typically used in opposition to longitudinal research designs. It may thus be defined as a design without repeated measurements of the same attribute of any individual unit i = 1, … , N (e.g., a person). Although no repeated measures are taken for the same unit of interest, cross-sectional designs are often used for longitudinal inferences, for example, in studies of human development across the lifespan. This encyclopedia entry provides a short overview of prominent cross-sectional research designs and points to potential pitfalls when drawing inferences about change from cross-sectional data.

Introduction

The majority of research designs in psychology are cross-sectional designs as defined above. Typically, however, they are only explicitly referred to as such when contrasted with longitudinal designs. This is particularly important when cross-sectional...