Case studies

• Case studies

  • In-depth investigation of a person, a small group, an event or an institution
  • Longitudinal – conducted over a long period of time (can be short-term though) this means collecting data from the past or following a person for many years
  • A form of qualitative data- people's experiences in words
  • Usually abnormal or unexpected cases
  • Often involve the use of interviews, observations and experiments with the individual and family, friends, medical professionals etc
• Strengths of case studies

  • Rich, detailed data is produced
  • Researchers tend to not have a specific aim sp are more open- minded and less occupied by what they hope to discover so validity of results increases
  • High ecological validity as studies are conducted in natural settings.
  • Allow the investigation of rare or unusual people/events that can't be investigated using experiments because there are only one or two people who could be studied
  • gives a greater insight into topics that may not be studied by other research
• Weakness of case studies

  • Study unique individuals/groups – cannot generalise to others which reduces the validity of results
  • The analysis is subjective – possibility of bias.
  • The information collected may be biased by the researcher's own "Reading" of the case
  • Challenges validity of findings.