Case Studies

Question 1

What are case studies?

Answer 1

These involve detailed investigations of individuals or small groups. They allow researchers to explore behaviour, feelings, and issues in great depth.

Question 2

What is the most popular example of a case study being used in alevel psychology?

Answer 2

HM’s brain damage accidentally occurring during an operation to cure his epilepsy.

Question 3

What are the strengths to using case studies?

Answer 3

• can study something unethical to recreate in a lab (e.g HM’s brain damage)
  -lots of detail, more than any other technique
  -usually has ecological validity as it is a real person being studied

Question 4

what is the main issue when using case studies?

Answer 4

-ppt cannot easily be compared to anyone else as they are usually unique.

Question 5

Summarise Henry Malaison

Answer 5

Born 1926, Connecticut
He had developed epilepsy after being knocked off his bike as a child
A doctor called William Beecher Scoville offered to remove his epilepsy, conducting the 1st ever bilateral hippocampus resection
The operation failed and Henry couldn’t make any new long term memories, only short term