case studies and content anaylsis

Question 1

what is a case study?

Answer 1

an in-depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event

Question 2

characteristics of case studies

Answer 2

•in depth, qualitative data
•often involve the analysis of unusual individuals or events
•developed through interviews, observations and questionnaires
•they tend to be longitudinal

Question 3

strengths of case studies

Answer 3

+ offer rich and detailed insights on atypical forms of behaviour
+ may contribute to our understanding of ‘typical’ functioning (eg HM demonstrating different STM and LTM stores)
+ may generate hypotheses for future study and one case study may lead to the revision of an entire theory

Question 4

limitations of case studies

Answer 4

• cannot be generalised
• information which makes it into the final report is based on the subjective selection and interpretation of the researcher
• personal accounts may be subject to inaccuracy and memory delay
• evidence from case studies may be low in validity as

Question 5

what is content analysis?

Answer 5

•a research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining communications that people produce (texts, emails, TV, film)
•people are studied indirectly via the content they produce

Question 6

what is the initial stage of content analysis?

Answer 6

coding

Question 7

what is coding?

Answer 7

when the information studied needs to be categorised into meaningful units (counting up the amount of times a particular word shows up ect), produces quantitative data

Question 8

what is a thematic analysis?

Answer 8

a form of content analysis but the outcome is qualitative, it involves identifying ‘themes’

Question 9

strengths of content analysis

Answer 9

+ it can circumnavigate many of the ethical issues usually associated with psychological research, much of the material already exists in the public domain- there are no issues in obtaining permission
+ high external validity
+ flexible in the sense that it may produce both qualitative and quantitative data depending on the aims of the research

Question 10

limitations of content analysis

Answer 10

• people are studied indirectly so the communications are usually analysed outside of the context within which it occurred
• there is a danger that the researcher may attribute opinions and motivations to the speaker or writer that were not originally intended
• it may suffer from a lack of objectivity, especially when more descriptive forms of thematic analysis are employed