Case Studies

Question 1

Case study

Answer 1

A detailed study of a single individual or a small group of people

Question 2

What kind of data is most often collected

Answer 2

Qualitative - descriptions or opinions

Question 3

Triangulation

Answer 3

Using more than one method to to check the validity of your findings

Question 4

Case of genie

Answer 4

-13 yr old girl but size of a 6 yr old
-severely neglected slept in a cage, never taught to speak, babbles infantly, still in diapers
-psychologist & lingustic teacher. Tried to teach her english
-she was getting on well but suddenly stopped
- father committed suicide avoided or refused to acknowledge what he did to genie

Question 5

Case of David reimer

Answer 5

• 2 yr old boy supposed to get circumcised but ended up with a severed penis
• mother had seen a TV show about gender reassignment
  -she decided to reassign david to female and brought him up as a girl
  -psychologist was negligent and put his research above ethics and consent
  -when David found out he changed back to male but was so mentally troubled with what happened he committed suicide at 36

Question 6

Longitudinal study

Answer 6

When your going to study it over time - repeated measures design

Question 7

Positives of a longitudinal study

Answer 7

Allows you to look at changes over time

Question 8

Negatives of a longitudinal study

Answer 8

Participants may drop out leading to a smaller sample size

Question 9

Strengths of case studies

Answer 9

• high levels of validity - they go into depth
  -allows multiple methods to be used
  -allows you to research things that would otherwise be impractical and unethical
• efficient, refute theorys

Question 10

Limitations of case studies

Answer 10

-Researcher bias
-lack of control
-Lack of scientific rigour - no control over the IV

Question 11

Phineous gage

Answer 11

Metal rod through the Brain, survived but personality was completely changed, went from reserved man to a gambling prostitute using man