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 psychlotron.org.uk • Examine what is involved in compiling a case study Case studies • Which case studies do you know? • From cognitive psychology: psychlotron.org.uk • 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 psychlotron.org.uk • 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 psychlotron.org.uk • 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 psychlotron.org.uk • 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 psychlotron.org.uk Case studies Case studies and other research •Generate new theoretical ideas Theory Practice •Develop new measuring instruments and research techniques psychlotron.org.uk 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.