1. Today we will…
Recall what a case study is and some examples from cognitive psychology
Examine what is involved in compiling a case study
Discuss how a psychologist might select information for a case study
Consider how case studies may contribute to psychological research
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2. Case studies Which case studies do you know?
From cognitive psychology:
HM – anterograde amnesia following surgery to reduce epilepsy
Clive Wearing – retrograde & anterograde amnesia following viral brain infection
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3. Case studies In depth study of:
An individual or small group
A specific environment
Draws on a range of sources of data according to the purpose e.g.:
Clinical psychology
Educational psychology
Sports psychology
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4. What’s in a case study? Case history
Description (& diagnosis) of problem/issue
Record of treatment/intervention
Record of outcomes
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5. What’s in a case study? Biographical information (e.g. interviews)
Observations
Psychological test results
Pre-existing records (e.g. school, employment, medical)
Reports from others
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6. Case studies Strengths
Rich, qualitative data provides in-depth understanding (non- reductive)
Can track and describe change over time (not just a ‘snapshot’)
Weaknesses
Heavy reliance on retrospective & self- report data
Non-standardised methods may be difficult to replicate
Lack of generalisability
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7. Case studies and other research
Generate new theoretical ideas
Test out existing theories
Develop new measuring instruments and research techniques
Theory
Research
Practice
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8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.