Issues in the Design of Longitudinal Organizational Research

Abstract

While there is a growing awareness in the field of organizational sociology of the need for longitudinal research, there are few exemplars to serve as guides for those interested in the design of such research. Written to provide an overview of issues in this increasingly important area, this paper begins by developing a working definition of longitudinal organizational research by examining the kinds of advantages that are generally held to derive from it. A distinction is made between research in and research on organizations, and a number of issues in the design of both sorts of longitudinal research are identified. Examples are provided through discussion of an ongoing project currently moving from a cross-sectional to a longitudinal design.