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154 PART II: Descriptive MethodsIRB committees devise acceptable methods for protecting human participants,survey research on the Internet will continue to improve as a method for collectingsurvey data.SURVEY-RESEARCH DESIGNS• The three types of survey design are the cross-sectional design, thesuccessive independent samples design, and the longitudinal design.Key ConceptOne of the most important decisions survey researchers must make is thechoice of a research design. A survey-research design is the overall plan orstructure used to conduct the entire study. There are three general types ofsurvey-research designs: the cross-sectional design, the successive independentsamples design, and the longitudinal design. There is no all-purposesurvey- research design. Researchers choose a design based on the goals of thestudy.Cross-Sectional Design• In the cross-sectional design, one or more samples are drawn from thepopulation(s) at one time.• Cross-sectional designs allow researchers to describe the characteristicsof a population or the differences between two or more populations, andcorrelational findings from cross-sectional designs allow researchers tomake predictions.The cross-sectional design is one of the most commonly used survey- researchdesigns. In a cross-sectional design, one or more samples are drawn from thepopulation at one time. The focus in a cross-sectional design is description—describing the characteristics of a population or the differences among two ormore populations at a particular time. For example, a cross-sectional designwas used in a nationwide study of Internet use among 1,100 teens aged 12–17( Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005). Using random-digit dialing, they conducteda telephone survey of parents and teens as part of the Pew Internet andAmerican Life Project, which is designed to examine the impact of the Interneton children, families, communities, the workplace, schools, health care, andcivic/political life.Although their findings are too numerous to describe fully here, Lenhart andher colleagues presented data that give a detailed description of teens’ use ofthe Internet and other technology. For example, close to 9 in 10 teens reportedusing the Internet (compared to 66% of adults), and half of the teens reportedbeing online at least daily. In addition, 81% of teens play games online, 76%get news online, 42% have made purchases online, and 31% reported usingthe Internet to get health information. Although e-mail was popular, instantmessaging (IM) was preferred. Approximately 75% of the online teens in theirsurvey (compared to 42% of online adults) use instant messaging, with half ofthese teens using IM every day. In fact, teens commented that they view e-mailas something for talking to “old people,” institutions, or large groups.