Which research design includes both cross-sectional and longitudinal aspects?

The research design that encompasses both cross-sectional and longitudinal elements is cross-sequential. This design allows researchers to examine changes over time within different cohorts or age groups, providing a comprehensive view of development. By combining the strengths of both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, it captures variations between individuals at a single time point while also observing how these variations might change over an extended period.

In cross-sequential studies, multiple groups of participants (often from different age cohorts) are followed over time. This means that researchers can obtain information about the same individuals across different points in time, which helps to control for cohort effects that might bias findings in purely cross-sectional or longitudinal designs.

By contrast, the other designs mentioned are more restricted: cross-sectional studies focus solely on a single point in time across various groups, longitudinal studies track the same individuals over time without the cohort comparisons, and descriptive research generally aims to describe characteristics or phenomena rather than provide insights on the changes over time. Thus, the cross-sequential design uniquely incorporates elements from both perspectives to offer more robust developmental insights.