Case studies

Question 1

What is a case study?

Answer 1

• A research investigation that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event
• provide a rich record of human experiences but are hard to generalise from
• uses information from a range of sources e.g from the person concerned and also from their family and friends

Question 2

What techniques are used in case studies?

Answer 2

• interviews, observations, IQ tests, other kinds of questionnaires

Question 3

What are the findings used for?

Answer 3

• organised to represent the individuals thoughts, emotions, experiences and abilities
• can be longitudinal — follow the individual over a extended period of time

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

+ offers in depth data so information that may be overlooked using other methods
+ useful when investigating instances of human behaviour that are rare e.g investigating cases of people with brain damage
+ complex interaction of many factors is able to be studied

• difficult to generalise from individual cases as each one has unique characteristics
• can be unreliable as they involve the recollection of past events as part of the case history
• only identified after a key event has occurred and therefore we cannot be sure that the apparent changes observed actually were not present originally