Info Behind Case Studies Flashcards
(11 cards)
What are case studies?
An in-depth study of a single person or small group that all share a specific characteristic.
What type of study are most case studies?
(Give definition)
Longitudal studies:
-when you record changes in the behaviour and mental state if participants over a long period of time.
What are case studies conducted on?
-psychologically unusual individuals
-unusual individuals
-organisational practises
-typical individuals within a demographic
What 2 methods are used for case studies?
-qualitative data
-quantitative data
What is qualitative data?
Main form of data collected due to use of interviews
What is quantative data?
Involved with the use of experimental techniques, observations and analysis.
How is the generalisability for case studies?
-limited in generalisability due to their small unique sample sizes
-HM had a unique brain condition due to epilepsy and surgery, his condition is unique to him making it difficult to apply his memory impairments to wider population
-case provides insights into memory function (hippocampus in forming new LTM), but these insights may not represent how memory works for most people with brain injuries
where can case studies be applied to?
-HM’s case studies provide valuable insights that can be applied to real-world situations, especially in clinical or therapeutic settings.
-It has been used to understand the role of the hippocampus in memory formation and how specific brain injuries affect memory processes. This knowledge has informed treatments for individuals with similar amnesia/brain damage.
-Detailed findings from case studies can directly influence practical applications, such as developing therapies and interventions for memory disorders, making them highly applicable in certain real-world contexts.
Are case studies reliable?
-The subjective nature and reliability of case studies often result in a lack of reliability.
-HM’s case study provides detailed insights into his memory impairment, but his specific condition is rare, making it more difficult to replace with other participants.
-Since case studies focus of unique individuals and rely on qualitative data, the results are often not replicable, limiting their reliability across other case studies.
How is the validity of case studies?
-Case studies offer high ecological validity as they study individuals in real-life settings.
-HM’s everyday experiments such as his inability to remember recent conversations or people he has seen provide a genuine context for understanding memory impairment.
-This real-world situation allows researchers to observe how memory problems manifest outside of highly regulated laboratory conditions.
Are ethics good or bad for case studies?
-Case studies often raise ethical concerns regarding informed consent, especially with individuals with cognitive impairments.
-After undergoing surgery to fix his epilepsy, HM experienced profound anterograde amnesia, which severely limited his ability to remember new info, raising concerns about whether his consent is truly informed.
-The ethical issue of obtaining genuine, informed consent is a challenge in case studies, involving individuals with memory or cognitive issues, as they may not fully comprehend the study’s purpose of implications.
