14 DAY TRIAL // More and more, investigators working in social studies are figuring out that the established approach of conducting research in this field may no longer be sufficiently relevant. As such, they are developing new ways of keeping track of individuals in study groups.
Until now, the norm has been to put together a large number of test participants, and then ask them all the same questions at the same time. The data were then centralized, and connections between various factors teased out statistically.
But there are severe limitations to this approach, experts say, such as for example the inability to draw very accurate correlations between more “distant” factors, that are seemingly unrelated. The approach that is now beginning to take center stage is a bit different.
In it, experts follow smaller groups of participants over longer time spans. As such, a study that used to last for a few hours can now last a few years. While this may seem counterintuitive at first, it's actually not, PsychCentral reports.
They explain that taking this approach is enabling them to understand the correlations that emerge between various factors influencing a person in more detail. The novel approach is mostly preferred by psychologists who are conducting studies into how the human mind works.
“So we might get a bunch of Psych 101 undergrads, administer a survey, ask about how much they use alcohol and what their mood is, and just look and see, is there a relationship between those two variables,” explains study author Dr. Daniel J. Bauer.
The expert, who holds an appointment with the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, says that using the new approach enables experts to quantify the effects of mood and stress in test subjects. This is notoriously hard to do in short-term investigations.
“Ultimately, the idea would be to identify people who might be more at risk and try to help them,” Bauer explains. However, experts need to be patient in conducting their work, and must learn not to expect instant gratification.
In a recent study conducted using this approach, adolescents were asked to keep a 21-day diary registering their mood and alcohol use. UNC expert Dr. Andrea Hussong, the leader of the work, said that the connection between alcohol use and mood was different for most participants.
One of the conclusions in the study was that adolescents drink more when they have behavioral problems, but also when they are depressed. However, the two factors are not directly linked.