Today we will…
• Recall what a case study is and some examples
from cognitive psychology
• Discuss how a psychologist might select
information for a case study
• Consider how case studies may contribute to
psychological research
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• Examine what is involved in compiling a case
study
Case studies
• Which case studies do you know?
• From cognitive psychology:
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• HM – anterograde amnesia following surgery to
reduce epilepsy
• Clive Wearing – retrograde & anterograde
amnesia following viral brain infection
Case studies
• In depth study of:
• An individual or small group
• A specific environment
• Clinical psychology
• Educational psychology
• Sports psychology
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• Draws on a range of sources of data according
to the purpose e.g.:
What’s in a case study?
• Case history
• Description (& diagnosis) of problem/issue
• Record of treatment/intervention
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• Record of outcomes
What’s in a case study?
• Biographical information (e.g. interviews)
• Observations
• Pre-existing records (e.g. school, employment,
medical)
• Reports from others
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• Psychological test results
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Rich, qualitative data
provides in-depth
understanding (nonreductive)
• Heavy reliance on
retrospective & selfreport data
• Can track and
describe change over
time (not just a
‘snapshot’)
• Non-standardised
methods may be
difficult to replicate
• Lack of
generalisability
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Case studies
Case studies and other
research
•Generate new
theoretical ideas
Theory
Practice
•Develop new
measuring
instruments and
research
techniques
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Research
•Test out existing
theories
Uses of Case Studies:
• Atypical Behaviour/Conditions: Autism, brain damage, obsessive
compulsive disorder etc.
• Unusual Situations: Feral children etc.
• Usually small samples as not many people/ organisations are affected.
• Give insight into how to help, what’s going on ‘normally’ and
prevention.
• Give in-depth insight, so may choose to do a case study despite large
target population available.
Strengths
• Offer high levels of validity as they go into depth
and give insight.
• They allow researchers to study events or complex
psychological areas they could not practically or
ethically manipulate.
• If large numbers of people are unavailable or don’t
exist.
• Learn about issues not yet understood.
• Efficient as it only takes one case study to disprove
a theory.
Limitations
• Small samples make it difficult to
generalise.
• Bias: researchers can become too
involved and lose their objectivity:
misinterpreting or influencing outcomes.
• Often after the event, so can be difficult
to establish cause & effect.
• Lack of control: extraneous variables can
effect outcome.
Summary
• Case studies are in-depth investigations of one
person or group of people.
• Case studies are detailed enough to give valid
findings but it is difficult to generalise from
them.