Within-person analysis in educational psychology : Importance and illustrations

Most of the empirical (especially correlational) research in educational psychology to date has relied on between-person analysis, where constructs are assessed on the person level (i.e. typically only one or a few assessments for each person) and relationships between variables are computed with respect to inter-individual differences. This between-person approach is well-suited to examine individual differences. However, it has often been criticised as it provides little information about intra-individual psychological processes. In contrast, within-person analysis, where people are assessed multiple times and relationships between these multiple assessments are computed within individuals, has attracted attention to address psychological processes within individuals. The current chapter provides some backgrounds, rationales, and illustrative examples of within-person analysis to progress the case for this approach in educational psychology.