Case Studies And Content Analysis Flashcards
Why are case studies used
For ethical/ practical reasons eg to study brain areas through damage
What is a case study
An in-depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual/group/event, idiographic and very individualistic
What type of data does case study usually produce and how is this gathered
Qualitative, gathered through case study
How are case studies longitudinal
Their research design involves repeated observations of the same variables over a long period of time
Strengths of case study
-offer rich, detailed insights that may shed light on very unusual forms of behaviour
-can contribute to our understanding of ‘normal’ functioning eg case of HM significant as demonstrated normal memory processing and existence of separate stores in STM and LTM
-can generate hypotheses for future study in an area
Limitations of case studies
-not possible to generalise the behaviour of one unique individual to wider population
-info that makes it into final report is based on subjective selection and interpretation of researcher
-personal accounts from the ppts and their family and friends may be prone to inaccuracy, memory decay and bias=lack validity
What is content analysis
Observation research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining communications that people produce eg texts, emails, TV, spoken interaction with aim to summarise this communication in a systematic way so overall conclusions can be drawn
What is coding
Quantitative approach in initial stage of content analysis in which the communication to be studied is analysed by categorising info into meaningful units eg words, phrases
What is thematic analysis
Qualitative approach to analysis that involves identifying implicit/explicit themes within the data. Themes will often emerge once the data has been coded
What is a theme
Any idea, explicit or implicit, in communication being analysed that is recurrent
Strengths of content analysis
-can circumnavigate many of the ethical issues associated with psychological research, much of the material they may want to study eg tv adverts and films may already exist in public domain so no issues with obtaining permission
-flexible, can produce quantitative and qualitative data depending on aims of research
Weaknesses of content analysis
-people tend to be studied indirectly as part of content analysis so communication they produce is usually analysed outside of the context within which it occurred so danger that the researcher may attribute opinions and motivations to the speaker that were not intended originally
-lack of objectivity eso when more descriptive forms of thematic analysis are employed, however most modern analysts are clear about how their own biases influence the research process
How to check validity of themes identified
Researcher must collect further data to support claims and check if themes also present
Process of thematic analysis
-transcribe data
-familiarise themself with data by rereading several times
-code data and put into categories
-look for recurrent themes throughout
