Use the adjective longitudinal to describe something that takes place over a long period of time, like a study of the lifetime eating habits of people who live on islands. Sociologists and other scientists use the word longitudinal when they're talking about long-term research.
A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data).
medical, social sciences Longitudinal research is done on people or groups over a long period of time: longitudinal analysis / studies (Definition of longitudinal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Longitudinal research tracks the same people over time to reveal how things change. Learn how it works, its types, real examples, and key challenges.
Conducting longitudinal research is demanding in that it requires an appropriate infrastructure that is sufficiently robust to withstand the test of time, for the actual duration of the study.
Suggested Citation: "Report: Leveraging Longitudinal Data in Developing Countries." National Research Council. 2002. Leveraging Longitudinal Data in Developing Countries: Report of a Workshop.
JSTOR Daily: Longitudinal Investigation of Religiosity Trajectories: A Latent Class Growth Analysis
Scientific Research Publishing: Latent Profiles of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and the Mediating Role of Rumination among University Students ()
Definition of longitudinal adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
A longitudinal line or structure goes from one end of an object to the other rather than across it from side to side. That stability lends itself to longitudinal analysis. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers