methods - case studies Flashcards
what are case studies?
An in-depth study of one individual or a small group
The person or small group are usually interesting or unusual in some specific way e.g a group of patients who are trialling a particular therapy
what sort of methods do case studies use to collect data?
Different methods including observation, interview, questionnaire, standardised test etc are used to collect the data
This is called method triangulation - researchers try to identify common themes from the findings of their different measures
what type of approach do case studies take?
idiographic approach, meaning they build a detailed picture that helps us to understand how this one person or one small group constructs their understanding of the world; this is in contract to teh nomothetic approach which involves quantiative data meaning inferential stats can be used to test hypothesis (scientific approach)
what is an example of a case study in clinical psychology?
bradshaw
also used for longitudinal
what is the aim of bradshaw’s study
to look at how CBT was used to treat a woman with SZ (26 yo woman - Carol)
describe the procedure of bradshaw’s study
Measurement of the effectiveness of CBT looked at number of hospitalisations, how well the client was functioning (work, social, family) and development of therapeutic relationship.
15min - 1 hour sessions for 3 yrs
Included going for a walk
describe the findings of bradshaw’s study
A weekly activity schedule helped her to cope with loss of daily structure after leaving hospital. She was asked to record what she did during the day, so that she and the therapist could review her daily life and put in different strategies. Behavioural activities were worked out —small tasks to start with and increasing level of activity.Stress management was addressed by using techniques such as meditation.
Follow-up data showed that there was improvement in psychosocial functioning, reduction of symptoms and reduction in number of hospitalisations. This improvement lasted up to 6 months and the same was found again 1 year afterwards.
conclusions of bradshaw’s study
Considerable improvements in functioning after a 3-years of CBT.
It was therefore concluded that CBT can be successful in the treatment of schizophrenia - in controlling negative automatic thoughts and in changing behaviour in response to stressful situations
what are strengths of using case studies in clinical psychology?
A large amount of in-depth data (qualitative and quantitative) can provide brilliant insight. Tests and assessments can be carried out more than once (test-re-test) to check for reliability and validity
Useful- to an extent - Case studies in clinical psychology can demonstrate the effectiveness of new treatments, the development of a disorder and individual experiences of symptoms. This can be a good starting point for further research on bigger samples.
what are weaknesses of using case studies in clinical psychology?
Risk of inaccurate recording of data or subjective interpretation of information due to large amounts of time invested and rapport between participant and researcher meaning objectivity may be lost, lowers the validity of the results
Poor population validity due to an unrepresentative sample of usually one participant or small groups of participants with interesting or unusual behaviours means that the results may not be generalisable
