Work

Dealing With Short-term Fluctuation in Longitudinal Research

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: Many analytical methods are not very sensitive to change because of the difficulty of distinguishing short-term fluctuation from the developmental change of primary interest. The current project investigated one possible solution to this problem in the form of a measurement-burst design in which research participants perform several versions of each test at each measurement occasion. METHODS: Over 1,200 adults across a wide-age range performed different versions of cognitive tests on several sessions at each measurement occasion. RESULTS: Four methods of incorporating short-term variability were compared with respect to the magnitude of the correlations of the ability measures with each other and with respect to the magnitude of their relations with age. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that more sensitive assessments of change can be obtained by taking short-term fluctuation into account with measurement-burst designs. In particular, capitalizing on the availability of multiple measures at each occasion to form latent constructs representing the level and change in cognitive performance may provide the most sensitive assessment of cognitive change.

Source: The Journals of Gerontology Series B

DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbq060

Authors: T. A. Salthouse, J. R. Nesselroade

Institution: University of Virginia

Language: English

Topic: Psychometric Methodologies and Testing

Subfield: Management Science and Operations Research

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Aging

Award: Short-term cognitive change in adults from 18 to 80