Case Studies

Question 1

What is a case study

Answer 1

An in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, event or institution.
Often involves unusual or unexpected people/events, but can also be used with everyday experiences (e.g. mother adjusting to going back to work).

Question 2

What type of data Is taken from case studies

Answer 2

Mostly qualitative data which expresses people’s experiences in words. They often involve interviews with the person’s friends or relatives.
May include quantitative data, e.g. intelligence test score.

Question 3

Strength of case studies

Answer 3

Strengths
Researchers tend not to have a specific aim. This means they are often more open-minded and less blinkered by what they hope to discover. This increases the validity of the results.
A good method for studying rare behaviour that can’t be investigated using experiments. This gives us a greater insight into topics that may not be studied by other research.

Question 4

Weakness of case studies

Answer 4

Weaknesses
Often only focus on one individual or event. This means it is difficult to generalise the results beyond the particular person or event being studied. This reduces the validity of the results.
The researcher may be subjective. The information collected may be biased by the researcher’s own ‘reading’ of the case. Therefore conclusions drawn may lack validity.

Question 5

What does longitudinal mean

Answer 5

Tend to take place over a long period of time.
This may mean collecting data from the past or following a person/event for many years.