Concept

Attrition

Attrition refers to the loss of participants during a study. This is a particularly significant issue in longitudinal research, where dropout rates are often high and tend to increase as the study progresses over time. Participants may leave a study for numerous reasons, including major life events like moving, marriage, illness, or death, or they may simply decide to stop participating. This reduction in participants can threaten a study's validity, introduce bias, and weaken the power of its statistical conclusions.

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Updated 2026-04-25

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