lesson 2 - case studies

Question 1

what is a case study

Answer 1

involve the detailed investigation of a single individual/group or institutions
case studies aim to be scientific in their approach when investigating a topic or issue and objective and systematic methods are used to collect data

Question 2

why are case studies usually based on small groups of ppl

Answer 2

the psychologist may have only found one person or a small group of ppl that display the rare or fascinating behaviour

Question 3

what is a longitudinal study

Answer 3

when case studies take place over a long period of time whereby a person or group is tracked over a period of time in order to look for changes that may occur

Question 4

strengths of case studies

Answer 4

• provide rich, detailed insights into behaviour. psychologist value the qualitative data that case studies collect as they tend to be more valid the quantitative data which is collected from experiments or questionnaires
• case studies allow psychologists to investigate human behaviour that might be rare or unusual eg London riots. such research might otherwise be unethical to carry out using other research methods such as an experiment or an observation

Question 5

examples of case studies

Answer 5

• phinease gage
• little Hans
• little Albert

Question 6

case studies disadvantages

Answer 6

• often use small samples and therefore the research findings cannot be generalised to the wider population. using small samples could also lead to the researcher being biased in terms of subjective selection and interpretation of results
• the data collected from case studies can often be low in reliability. if the research was to be conducted again we might find that the same results wouldn’t be obtained. sometimes the data collected from a case study might be low in validity especially if it relies on ops recalling info from a long time agp (memory decay and forgetting can be a problem)

Question 7

strengths of longitudinal studies

Answer 7

Not a snapshot - shows changes in attitudes/behaviours over time - results more valid
Researcher get to know respondents well - strong rapport and valid data as people more likely to trust someone they know
can give qualitative and qualitative data - producing rich information

Question 8

disadvantages of longitudinal studies

Answer 8

Time consuming and demanding for researcher and participants - my affect results
Sample Attrition - people drop out over time
Issues and concepts may change over time it takes to do research