Methods for the Study of Development – Developing Methods

Abstract

This collection of articles explores how contemporary methods interface with and can be used effectively to test developmental perspectives and hypotheses. The authors review some of the latest advancements in measurement and scale equating, multilevel models of change, growth mixture models, longitudinal models of mediation, and survival models and illustrate how these methods can be applied to developmental data. In this introduction, we present the data-box as a useful heuristic for assessing the conceptual assumptions and implications of a given research approach and selecting the appropriately aligned statistical models for measurement, change, and interindividual differences. Together, the articles provide accessible introductions, illustrations, and discussions of how some of the recent methodological innovations might be applied in the study of development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Children, Youth, & Families Consortium at the Pennsylvania State University. Special thanks to Kevin Grimm, Peter Molenaar, John Nesselroade, Lauren Molloy, Frank Infurna, and Brian Stiehler for helpful comments on earlier versions of this work and to Justin Gruneberg for assistance with the artwork. Thanks very very much to the contributing authors for making this issue possible and to Erin Phelps for suggesting that we go for it and for providing guidance along the way.