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Conducting Substudies in a Longitudinal Research Project
Jenny Helman
Deborah Loxton
Lyn Adamson
Anna Graves
Jennifer Powers
Abstract
Longitudinal studies often include substudies which involve the collection of specific and more detailed data from subsets of study participants.
The longitudinal study framework adds methodological strength to these substudies through enabling sampling of individuals with exposures or outcomes of interest, and through retrospective and prospective access to longitudinal data. However, while there are many advantages to these studies, there are also a number of potential disadvantages.
Here we describe some of the considerations to be applied when designing and approving a substudy and some of the procedures to be applied to ensure that the substudy runs well and has minimal impact on study participants.
Keywords
longitudinal studies, substudies, piggyback studies, supplementary studies, research methods
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