4.2.3 CASE STUDIES

Question 1

what is a case study?

Answer 1

• in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community
• in psychology they’re often confined to the study of a particular individual
• information is mainly biographical and relates to events in the individual’s past and significant events

Question 2

where is data gathered from for a case study?

Answer 2

• data is gathered often from observations and interviews
• generating mostly qualitative data

Question 3

a case study isn’t a research method
what do researchers do?

Answer 3

researchers select methods of data collection and analysis that will generate material suitable for case studies

Question 4

most case studies tend to be longitudinal
what does this mean?

Answer 4

ie) a ppts experience/progress is tracked and measured over time

Question 5

what are 4 strengths of case studies?

Answer 5

1) provides rich, in-depth, detailed information
-> high in explanatory power

2) provides insight for further research
-> helps us generate new ideas
-> important way of illustrating theories and can help show how different aspects of a person’s life are related to each other

3) allows researchers to study unique behaviour and experiences which would be unethical or impossible to manipulate in controlled conditions

4) provide a holistic point of view
-> where the whole individual and their experience is considered
-> important for humanistic psychologists

Question 6

what are 4 limitations of case studies?

Answer 6

1) lacking scientific rigour and providing little basis for generalisation of results to the wider population
-> difficult to replicate

2) researchers’ own subjective feeling may influence the case study
(researcher bias)

3) time-consuming and expensive
-> the volume of data, together with the time restrictions in place, may impact on the depth of analysis that’s possible within the available resources

4) often rely on ppts having a good memory which means that info can be missing
-> would impact the validity