Research Methods in Psychology(Pp 60-68)

Case Studies

Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.

Case studies allow researchers to “retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events” (Yin, 2009)

Case studies are widely used in psychology and amongst the best-known ones carried out were by Sigmund Freud. He conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.

Characteristics of Case Studies

• Idiographic- concentrating on unique traits of individuals or groups

• Focus on context

• Use multiple data sources (data triangulation)

• Examine processes that take place over a period of time

Sources of Case Study Data

• Documentation- letters, e-mails, diaries etc

• Archival records

• Interviews

• Observations

Types of Case Studies

Intrinsic• Unusual or interesting (ie, feral children)• Not easily generalized

Extrinsic/Instrumental• Examine how individual or group experiences fit

with larger theory (ie cognitive therapy)• More easily generalized

Strengths of Case Study Research

• Multiple data sources offer different perspectives and increase data triangulation

• Sensitive to context allowing one to study how people make meaning out of their lives

• May be only way to study unique behavior

• Helps researchers develop new theories

• Good ecological validity because data are gathered from real-life contexts

Weaknesses of Case Study Research

• Poor population validity since data are gathered from specific individuals/groups

• An individual’s testimony is difficult to validate as past memory is not always accurate

• Confidentiality and anonymity are ethical concerns

• Time-consuming

• Researcher bias can be a problem if s/he does not objectively select data sources for a case study

Generalizing Findings

Difficult to make good generalizations (to similar situations or people outside the study) from intrinsic case studies.

Instrumental case studies can be generalized to theoretical propositions if enough cases show the same thing; they can refine theory and give direction for future research.

The End