case studies + content analysis

• case studies:

  • in depth investigation of a single event or individual usually involving unusual disorders but can also focus on more typical cases
  • produces qualitative data + may be subjected to psych testing (quantitative), establish case history through interviews + observations
  • idiographic approach, dont generalise
• case studies strengths:

  • rich + detailed - allows to see complex interactions
  • contribute to understanding of normal functioning
  • not ethical to generate conditions experimentally
• case studies weaknesses:

  • small sample sizes, past history not available
  • based on subjective selection + researcher interpretation - investigator bias
  • personal accounts may not be given accurately
  • ethical issues
• content analysis:

  • research technique - enables indirect study of behaviour through examining communications
• interactions:

  • aim is to summarise + describe communication in systematic way
  • spoken interactions e.g conversations, written e.g texts, media e.g tv, magazines
• design decisions:

  • sampling method - analyse every page, pick subsections, time/event sampling
  • coding data - create list of behavioural categories
  • method of representing data - instances (quantitative), describe examples in each category (qualitative)
• thematic analysis:

  • qualitative approach to analysis - identify implicit/explicit ideas in data
  • themes often emerge when data coded, cropping up more = recurring theme
  • example - mentally ill in newspapers will be described as threat, theme = stereotyping, prejudice against mentally ill
• analysis strengths:

  • circumnavigates ethical issues - public domain, no issue obtaining consent
  • high ecological validity - based on real communications
  • flexibility with data - quantitative/qualitative
• analysis weaknesses:

  • communications analysed out of context - may attribute opinions/motivations to speaker or writer
  • lack of objectivity