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Applying planned missingness designs to longitudinal panel studies in developmental science: An overview
Author(s) -
Wu Wei,
Jia Fan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20391
Subject(s) - attrition , research design , missing data , computer science , longitudinal data , developmental science , longitudinal study , data science , clinical study design , management science , psychology , developmental psychology , data mining , statistics , machine learning , engineering , sociology , clinical trial , social science , medicine , mathematics , dentistry , pathology
Abstract Longitudinal panel studies are widely used in developmental science to address important research questions on human development across the lifespan. These studies, however, are often challenging to implement. They can be costly, time‐consuming, and vulnerable to test–retest effects or high attrition over time. Planned missingness designs (PMDs), in which partial data are intentionally collected from all or some of the participants, are viable solutions to these challenges. This article provides an overview of several PMDs with potential utilities in longitudinal studies, including the multi‐form designs, multi‐method designs, varying lag designs, accelerated longitudinal designs, and efficient designs for analysis of change. For each of the designs, the basic rationale, design considerations, data analysis, advantages, and limitations are discussed. The article is concluded with some general recommendations to developmental researchers and promising directions for future research.