A researcher is going to do a longitudinal study of cognitive development in elementary school-age ...

Answer to q. 1

While the question does not call for a specific description of a longitudinal or cross-sectional study, the student may begin by giving brief definitions of the two. The focus should emphasize that the former involves repeated observations of the same groups of participants over an extended period of time in order to determine developmental factors associated with change, while the latter should emphasize observation of groups of different aged participants at a single point in time in order to avoid several of the problems associated with longitudinal research. It should also not make the mistake of confusing cross-sectional studies with sequential studies, which involve repeated observations of different aged groups of participants over time.
Primary difficulties of longitudinal studies include repeat testing effects, attrition of participants (through death, relocation, or loss of interest in participation), expense and time involved in conducting a longitudinal study, and the practical difficulties of such a model. The cross-sectional model helps to allay some of those problems, but does bring into the research the fact that single observations do not allow for conclusions about developmental changes as well as cohort effects that can complicate the accurate interpretation of research findings.

Answer to q. 2

TRUE

Answer to q. 3

In a correlational study, two variables are studies as they exist in the natural world. Because it would be unethical to encourage people to smoke just so that you could determine whether smoking would influence their children's cognitive functioning, this sort of study would assess what is already occurring in terms of the amount of smoking being done around children. The amount of smoking being done around children could be measured by both parental self-reports and the children's levels of cotinine, a valid and reliable indicator of second-hand smoke exposure. The children's cognitive performance could be measured with an age-appropriate problem solving test. The relationship between the two variables would be expressed as a statistic called the correlation coefficient, which has a range of -1.00 to +1.00 . A student should accurately describe how the correlation coefficient is to be interpreted, without making statements about causal relationships between smoking and lung cancer that are unsupported by a correlational design.
The main disadvantage of a correlational study is the inability to determine a cause-effect relationship between smoking and lung cancer.

Answer to q. 4

FALSE

Answer to q. 5

Paul Baltes and his colleagues produced a list of four essential features of the life-span perspective. They include multidirectionality (the idea that development includes both growth and decline in different domains at different ages), plasticity (the idea that skills and abilities can be learned, even late in life, and are not predetermined), historical context (the idea that development is affected by the historical time and events that occur in which a person is born and the culture in which they grew up), and multiple causation (the idea that many different factorsbiological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycleinfluence the course of development).
There are several overlaps between these factors and the three recurring issues in developmental psychology. Accurate answers will find these connections and cogently comment on the commonalities. For example, the idea of plasticity is very interwoven into the nature/nurture debate, as it addresses what is a function of our surroundings and ability to learn from our environment and what is predetermined by genetics. Multidirectionality could be linked to the idea of continuity and discontinuity, as forward growth' and backward decline' could be seen as being continuous or discontinuous in a developmental path. Though the biopsychosocial model is not one of the recurring issues noted in the beginning of this chapter, individual instructors may consider giving credit for linking that model to the idea of multiple causation.
These sorts of connections, as well as other creative links, are the foundation of a strong answer to this essay.