case studies

• case study- an in depth investigation of one person or small group of people.

  they are naturally occurring events.

  it can be longitudinal or retrospective.

  the researcher gathers a range of info (e.g. family relationships, medical history).

  the researcher uses a number of methods to gather info (e.g. interviews, observations, psychological tests)
• strengths of case studies

  🙂 rich, meaningful data

  this provides a full understanding and is more accurate, adding internal validity

  🙂high ecological validity

  data is from the real world in a natural environment and natural behaviours, so data can be generalised to the real world
• weakness of case studies

  ☹️not generalisable to the general population

  they are often unique cases so it is not representative, questioning population validity. it is less applicable and may not be true for other people