RESEARCH METHODS-QUALITATIVE STUDY DESIGNS-BASING ON NATURE OF THE INVESTIGATION-PANEL STUDIES

Panel studies are similar to trend and cohort studies except that in addition to being longitudinal they are also prospective in nature and the information is always collected from the same respondents. (In trend and cohort studies the information can be collected in a cross-sectional manner and the observation points can be retrospectively constructed.) Suppose you want to study the changes in the pattern of expenditure on household items in a community. To do this, you would select a few families to find out the amount they spend every fortnight on household items. You would keep collecting the same information from the same families over a period of time to ascertain the changes in the expenditure pattern. Similarly, a panel study design could be used to study the morbidity pattern in a community.