Case studies 🧍 Flashcards
What is a case study?
The purpose of a case study is to provide a detailed analysis of an individual, establishment or real-life event. A case study does not refer to the way in which the research was conducted, as case studies can use experimental or non-experimental methods to collect data.
— For example, a researcher may want to interview the participants, provide a questionnaire to their family or friends and even conduct a memory test under controlled conditions, to provide a rich and detailed overview of human behaviour.
Case studies are often used where there is a rare behaviour being investigated which does not arise often enough to warrant a larger study being conducted. A case study allows data to be collected and analysed on something that psychologists have very little understanding of, and can therefore be the starting point for further, more in-depth research.
Examples of famous case studies in psychology:
— HM
— Phineas Gage
— Little Albert
— Little Hans
EVALUATION: Case studies
LIMITATION - METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES + POPULATION VALIDITY
P: There are methodological issues associated with the use of case studies.
E: By only studying one individual, an isolated event or a small group of people it is very difficult to generalise any findings to the wider population, since results are likely to be so unique.
E: This therefore creates issues with external validity as psychologists are unable to conclude with confidence that anyone beyond the ‘case’ will behave in the same way under similar conditions, thus lowering the population validity.
LIMITATION - SUBJECTIVITY
P: An issue in case studies, particularly where qualitative methods are used, is that the researcher’s own subjectivity may pose a problem.
E: In the case study of Little Hans, for example, Freud developed an entire theory based around what he observed.
E: There was no scientific or experimental evidence to support his suggestions from his case study. This means that a major problem with his research is that we cannot be sure that he objectively reported his findings.
L: Consequently, a major limitation with case studies is that research bias and subjectivity can interfere with the validity of the findings / conclusions.
STRENGTH - UNIQUE INSIGHTS
P: A strength of the case study approach is that it offers the opportunity to unveil rich, detailed information about a situation.
E: These unique insights can often be overlooked in situations where there is only the manipulation of one variable in order to measure its effect on another.
E: Further to this, case studies can be used in circumstances which would not be ethical to examine experimentally. For example, the case study of HM cannot be reproduced as no one would voluntarily induce a brain injury for the purpose of psychological research.
