Quantitative Research: Longitudinal Research

Quantitative Research: Longitudinal Research

Write a piece of 2,000 words discussing and assessing a quantitative approach to longitudinal research, in the context of one specific example of longitudinal research. You should consider:

• Why would we conduct quantitative research to investigate social issues? What are its strengths and limitations?

• What can longitudinal research tell us? Again, what are its strengths and limitations?
• What approach has been taken in the example you have looked at (e.g. in terms of research design, data collection, analysis etc.)? Can you explain why this approach has been taken, and what has been achieved as a result of this?

Your report should assess what the longitudinal research you have examined has set out to do, how it has set out to do it, and what it has achieved, with a particular focus on the issues raised by the quantitative nature of the research.

  Suggested Readings:

Acton, C. and Miller, R. (2009) SPSS for Social Scientists, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.


Allison, P.D. (1984) Event History Analysis: Regression for Longitudinal Event Data, Beverley Hills: Sage.


Blaikie, N. (2003) Analyzing Quantitative Data, London: Sage.
Bryman, A. (1990) Quantitative Data Analysis for Social Scientists, London: Routledge.


Dale, A. (1994) Analysing Social and Political Change: A Casebook of Methods, London: Sage.


David, M. and Sutton, C.D. (2011) Social Research, London: Sage.
De Vaus, D.A. (2001) Research Design in Social Research, London: Sage.


Dex, S. (1991) Life and Work History Analyses: Qualitative and Quantitative Developments, London: Routledge. 

Elliott, J. (2005) Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, London: Sage.


Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, London: Sage.
Fielding, J.L. and Gilbert, N. (2006) Understanding Social Statistics, London: Sage.
Goldthorpe, J.H. (2000) On Sociology – Numbers, Narratives, and the Integration of Research and Theory, Oxford:

University Press.
Halsey, A.H. & Webb, J. (eds.) (2000) Twentieth-Century British Social Trends, Basingstoke: Macmillan. 

Hardy, M.A. and Bryman, A. (2003) Handbook of Data Analysis, London: Sage
Hellevik, O. (1984) Introduction to Causal Analysis: Exploring Survey Data by Crosstabulation, London: Allen & Unwin.


Marsh, C. (1983) The Survey Method: The Contribution of Surveys to Sociological Explanation, London: Allen &Unwin.


Mayer, K.U. (1990) Event History Analysis in Life Course Research, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 

McKim, V . R. and T urner , S. P . (1997) Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for Causal Knowledge in

the Social Sciences, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Porter, T.M. (1986) The Rise of Statistical Thinking 1820-1900, Princeton: University Press. Rose, D. And Sullivan, O. (1996) Introducing Data Analysis for Social Scientists, Buckingham: Open

University Press.
Savage, M. (2010) Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: The Politics of Method, Oxford: University Press.


Sirkin, R.M. (2006) Statistics for the Social Sciences, London: Sage.
Tufte, E. (1970) The Quantitative Analysis of Social Problems, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley. 

Tukey, J.W. (1977) Exploratory Data Analysis, Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Yamaguchi, K. (1991) Event History Analysis, Newbury Park: Sage.

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