Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
📈 Over time ↔️ Lengthwise 🌍 Along longitude
longitudinal

longitudinal

8 7.4
Following the same people and measuring them over a long time
  • adjective
  • /ˌlɔŋɪˈtudɪnəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : longitudinal
  • The children were followed as part of a longitudinal study of language development in internationally adopted children.
  • a longitudinal study
  • longitudinal data
  • longitudinal analysis

So that's where the longitudinal focus comes in.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • As evidenced in randomized control trials and longitudinal studies, a quality preschool education can enrich a child's development.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Future researchers are encouraged to conduct some longitudinal studies to understand learners' views about globalization.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Second, studies should collect more targeted, ideally longitudinal, data on girls with ED and a history of arrest.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The data were collected over a 2-year period, so a longitudinal perspective was possible.

    Academic text (2008)

  • However, there is a need for longitudinal evidence to delineate causality between wealth status and disability.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Participants included 125 HIV-positive women enrolled in a larger longitudinal study of HIV disclosure and mental health.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The children were followed as part of a longitudinal study of language development in internationally adopted children.

  • Future researchers are encouraged to conduct some longitudinal studies to understand learners' views about globalization.

  • The data were collected over a 2-year period, allowing for longitudinal analysis of behavioral changes.

How Long

long-term
502 3.0
longitudinal
  • Specialized
8 7.4
short-term
225 3.3

Surface Forms

longitudinal positive

Morphology

longitudinal = longitude (opaque) = longitude + al

The research sense is a specialized conventional extension and is not easily predictable from the base noun and suffix alone.

Etymology

Longitudinal uses the same root longus ('long') you see in long and length. A helpful way to remember the research sense is this: a longitudinal study follows the same people for a 'long' time, so it shows how things change over time.