Disadvantages Of Longitudinal Research

Joan Stiles discusses one of the largest debates in psychological development, nature versus nurture. The debate is whether all individuals are born with an innate set of concepts and biological brain functioning that undermines development. The two sides of the nature versus nurture debate include the nativist view and the nurturist view.
Nativists believe that individuals are born with a core set of innate principals that are used for learning throughout life. This core knowledge perspective includes three concepts individuals have that are predetermined at birth, object concept, numerosity, and language. Before the 17th Century nativists including Plato, Descartes, and Darwin saw children as being born with innate qualities or traits that

Advantages of longitudinal research include the ability to examine changes over time. Following the same individuals provides significant insight to development of behavior and intellectual development. However, longitudinal research can be difficult due to time and cost. Further, researchers only examine a small group of individuals, making it difficult to generalize to the overall population. Another disadvantage to longitudinal research is the possibility of participants dropping out of the study due to the length of the study.
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Cross-sectional research involves looking at specific traits or characteristics of different groups. Cross-sectional research can be done quickly; all research is gathered at the same time. This type of research methodology signifies developmental differences and similarities between groups. However, determining the cause and effect of outcomes is not an easy task, as there may be confounding variables influencing the outcome.
Correlational research is a type of non-experimental study that can be used to look at the relationship between variables. Correlational research is useful in methods when the researcher is unable to manipulate one of the variables. However, correlations do not prove a cause and effect relationship, in that, the direction of the relationship cannot be

For any of the studies that you discuss, be sure to provide a brief outline of the study (goals/hypotheses, how data were collected) as well as how the results illustrate your point (30 points).

(b) What is the message here (i.e., the research you have just discussed) to parents of children during their first year of life? (10 points).

Tincoff and Jusczyk examined 3-4 months old word comprehension by examining representation of objects and events, patterns of words, attentional cues, and visual events. The goal of their study was to determine if by 6 months of age, babies could comprehend the words hand and feet. Using stimuli, both auditory and video, results suggested that 6-month olds early comprehension shows that they are able to generalize and extend word-world mapping. Although they are unable to speak, they have knowledge and can comprehend words before developing