Would Be the Very Best Research Design to Determine Whether

question 8

Multiple Choice

would be the very best research design to determine whether middle-aged adults are really more psychologically "mature" than young adults?

• A) a longitudinal design, with a large representative sample studied from 20 to 45
• B) a cross-sectional study in which a large, representative sample of adults of each age from 20 to 45 (e.g., 20-year-olds, 25-year-olds, etc.) is studied once
• C) the same cross-sectional design as in b, but repeated at 10-year intervals
• D) a sequential design in which each age interval is studied longitudinally in more than one cohort

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Definitions:

Descriptive Statistics

Tabular, graphical, and numerical summaries of data.

Midpoint

The value that lies halfway between the highest and lowest values in a given set of numbers.

Interquartile Range

The range between the first and third quartiles in a data set, representing the middle 50% of values and used as a measure of variability.

Observations

Data points or recorded information obtained from experimental or study designs, representing individual examples of the variables being studied.