A longitudinal study is a type of research design that involves studying and evaluating the same people over an extended period of time (Myers, 2006).
Visser (1985, cited in Arnau & Bono, 2008) defines it as the examination of changes produced over time in the same sample. He also adds that it seeks to verify interindividual differences through intraindividual changes.
The longitudinal design is used to study change processes that are directly linked to the passage of time (Edwards, 2000; Helms, 1992; Zeger & Liang, 1992, cited in Arnau & Bono, 2008).
One of the benefits of this type of study is that it allows us to investigate the causal relationship between A and B (Menard, 2008).
Fountain:
Myers, D. (2006), Psychology 7th edition. Panamericana Medical Editorial:Madrid
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Arnau, J. & Bono, R. (2008),
Menard, S. (2008) .