An in depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event.
What type of individuals do case studies usually analyse?
Often involve the analysis of unusual individuals or events.
What type of data do case studies usually produce?
Qualitative data
How can a case study use a range of research methods?
Researcher may construct a case history of an individual.
Using interviews, observations and questionnaires or a combination of all of these.
The person may also be subject to experimental or psychological testing to assess what they are capable of, producing quantitative data.
Why are case studies useful for gathering data over a long time?
Case studies tend to be longitudinal studies, which involve gathering additional data from family and friends.
Strengths of case studies
Offer rich, detailed insights that may shed light on unusual/atypical forms of behaviour.
Contribute to our understanding of typical functioning. E.g Case of HM was significant and demonstrated typical memory processing (the existence of separate stores in the STM and LTM)
May generate future hypotheses for future study and one contradictory instance may lead to the revision of an entire theory.
Limitations of case studies
Generalisation of findings is difficult when dealing with a small sample.
Information which makes the final report is based on the subjective selection and interpretation of the researcher.
Personal accounts from participants and family may be prone to inaccuracy and memory decay therefore may have low validity
