Conceptualization, operationalization, and performance of longitudinal studies in communication research: a systematic review.
We report a systematic review of longitudinal studies published in SSCI-Communication journals over the 50 years, focusing on how time is conceived, measured, and analyzed as a scientific concept. To facilitate the review, we devised two novel classification schemes to distinguish between longitudin...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Communication Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 92 - 107 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Feb2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192099678&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192099678 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00219916 JCO jtl: Journal of Communication issn: 00219916 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Feb2026 vid: 76 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 192099678 10.1093/joc/jqaf047 ppf: 92 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: Conceptualization, operationalization, and performance of longitudinal studies in communication research: a systematic review. aug: au: Zhu, Jonathan J H Lin, Wei Gao, Jingwei Lu, Heng affil: Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Centre for Communication Research, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China su: Communications research Inference (Logic) Longitudinal method Time series analysis Systematic reviews Communication periodicals sug: subj: Communications research Inference (Logic) Longitudinal method Time series analysis Systematic reviews Communication periodicals keyword: causal inference copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en longitudinality panel data publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf047 temporal dynamics time-series data causal inference copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en longitudinality panel data publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf047 temporal dynamics time-series data ab: We report a systematic review of longitudinal studies published in SSCI-Communication journals over the 50 years, focusing on how time is conceived, measured, and analyzed as a scientific concept. To facilitate the review, we devised two novel classification schemes to distinguish between longitudinal and non-longitudinal studies and to measure how time is treated. We manually coded a random sample of 1,080 research articles, supplemented with computerized keyword scanning of the study population. The results show that longitudinal studies have steadily accounted for about 9% of the publications. Panel data studies outnumber time-series studies in a ratio of 3:2. Three-fourths of the longitudinal studies treat time as a timing index and aim to test causal effects, whereas a quarter treat time as a parameter to capture temporal dynamics. Longitudinal studies make more conceptual contributions and receive more citations than non-longitudinal studies. We offer practical recommendations for longitudinal communication research. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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