case studies + content analysis

• case study

  • in depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event
  • usually involves production of qualitative data
  • tend to be longitudinal
  • data may be gathered from family + friends
• strengths of case studies

  • offer detailed insights into very unusual forms of behaviour
  • may contribute to understanding of 'typical' functioning
  • e.g. HM
  • may generate hypotheses for future studies
• limitations of case studies

  • cannot generalise findings.
  • information is based on subjective selection and interpretation of the researcher.
  • personal accounts from family + friends may be innacurate.
• content analysis

  • research technique that allows for indirect study of behaviour by studying communications that people produce.
  • e.g. texts, films, emails, TV and other media
• coding

  • initial stage of content analysis.
  • some sets of data to are large so they need to be categorised into meaningful units.
  • may involve counting up the number of times a word or phrase appears - quantitative data
• thematic analysis

  • form of content analysis where the outcome is qualitative
  • process involved identification of themes which is any idea that is recurrent.
  • likely to be more descriptive than coding.
  • once researcher has developed themes, they may collect new data to test validity of themes.
• strengths of content analysis

  • can get around ethical issues -> material is already public so no issues for getting permission.
  • high external validity
  • flexible as it can produce quantitative + qualitative data
• limitations of content analysis

  • people are studied indirectly so communications are analysed outside of context - may be misinterpreted
  • may suffer lack of objectivity when more descriptive forms of thematic analysis are used.