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13 - Cross-Sectional Studies

from Part III - Data Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

By
Maninder Singh Setia
Edited by
Austin Lee Nichols  and
John Edlund
Austin Lee Nichols
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
John Edlund
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
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Summary

Cross-sectional studies are a type of observational studies in which the researcher commonly assesses the exposure, outcome, and other variables (such as confounding variables) at the same time. They are also referred to as “prevalence studies.” These studies are useful in a range of disciplines across the social and behavioral sciences. The common statistical estimates from these studies are correlation values, prevalence estimates, prevalence odds ratios, and prevalence ratios. These studies can be completed relatively quickly, are relatively inexpensive to conduct, and may be used to generate new hypotheses. However, the major limitation of these studies are biases due to sampling, length-time bias, same source bias, and the inability to have a clear temporal association between exposure and outcome in many scenarios. The researcher should be careful while interpreting the measure of association from these studies, as it may not be appropriate to make causal inferences from these associations.

Keywords

Cross-Sectional DesignBiasesStatistical MethodsAdvantagesDisadvantages
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 1: Building a Program of Research
 , pp. 269 - 291
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

The following are sources that describe various aspects of cross-sectional studies.

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References

Alexander, L., Lopes, B., Ricchetti-Masterson, K., & Yeatts, K. (2014–15). Cross-sectional Studies. UNC CH Department of Epidemiology. Available at: https://sph.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/112/2015/07/nciph_ERIC8.pdf.Google Scholar
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