Developmental psychology: concerned with both chronological order of development and/or thematic issues in development across the lifespan
Themes
- nature vs. nurture (discussed in the Biological Bases of Behavior - Interaction of Heredity and Environment)
- continuity vs. discontinuity
- stability vs. change
Research in developmental psychology: frequently use of both quantitative and qualitative data in longitudinal & cross-sectional study
Longitudinal study
- follows one group of people for a very long time
- very expensive, very difficult
- sampling bias: non-random withdrawal from the study; non-representative
Cross-sectional study
- study generational differences fast and easily
- there might be a "cohort effect" (differences due to era, not aging/development)
Mixed methods research: combines both quantitative and qualitative methods
Children and adolescents research participants: required both parental permission and consent from the participants (if possible)