In developmental psychology, the focus of research is often toexamine change over time. Developmental psychologists have some specialresearch designs that allow them to accomplish this. Two such researchdesigns are the cross-sectional design and the longitudinal design. Across-sectional design measures different groups of people of differentages at the same time. A longitudinal design measures the same group ofpeople at different ages and also, therefore, at different times.
Use your textbook and the Argosy University online library resourcesto identify and research a topic in adult development (e.g., memory,muscle strength, etc.) that you wish to examine across various ageagroups. Develop an outline for either a cross-sectional or longitudinalresearch design. Write a paper consisting of the followinginformation:
An introduction to the topic you selected, including a summary of atleast one peer-reviewed journal article describing recent research(post 2005) on the topic;
A description of how you will measure the topic of study (e.g., the dependent variable).
A description of which type of design will be used and why thatwould be most appropriate. Also identify what age groups will bestudied.
On the basis of your readings and research, provide a prediction of what you expect to find upon completion of your study.
Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Your paper should bedouble-spaced with one-inch margins, written in APA style, and free oftypographical and grammatical errors. It should include a title pagewith a running head and a reference page. The body of the paper shouldbe 3-5 pages in length.
