Research Methods - Case Studies

Case Studies

The detailed study of a single individual, institution or event with information gathered by a range of sources (eg. Indv/family) using many techniques (eg. interviews/observations). They are usually longitudinal

Longitudinal

When a study is conducted/ events is followed for an extended period of time to observe long-term effects.

Case studies - Pro - Rare+ethics

One strength of case studies is that they allow experiences that are otherwise rare or cannot be generated ethically for an experiment to be investigated. For example, HM is a case study with an individual that had their hippocampus removed to aid with seizures. An experiment could not ethically justify the hippocampus’ removal to investigate its effects on memory, but this case study allowed this rare situation to be investigated and therefore valuable findings about memory could be discovered. Therefore, case studies enable otherwise impossible research that can have significant findings.

Case Studies - Con - external validity

One weakness of case studies is that it is often difficult to generalise their findings to the wider population as individuals studied often have unique characteristics that could differentiate their results from what would be found in the rest of the population (eg. HM had experienced severe seizures before his surgery which may have influenced his memory separately from the hippocampus removal). Therefore, case studies produce findings with a low external validity and therefore they have limited use.

Case Studies - Con - Internal Validity

One weakness of case studies is that they are prone to investigator effects. As researchers get to know the individual and the case study they can overlook certain aspects of findings due to developing a bias. Therefore, the internal validity of case studies’ findings may be low.

Content Analysis

A method of qualitative data analysis/ research technique in which people are studied indirectly via the communications they produce. The aim of CA is to summarise communication in a systematic way (coded in categories) so conclusions can be drawn. It involves 6 steps

Types of communication that can be analysed by content Analysis

Spoken communication - eg conversation/speech

Written communication - eg emails / text messages

Broader media examples - eg books / TV

Interview +/or Observations

CONTENT ANALYSIS - STEPBYSTEP

1. Categories are chosen

2. Pilot study is conducted

3. Communication is analysed by recording (tallying) each instance of the chosen category (CODING)

4. The total in each category is counted

5. Inter-rater reliability (degree of agreement/consistency) is checked

6. Quantitative data analysis techniques are used to compare the different categories

Content Analysis - Coding

Organising the means of communication info chosen categories which are tallied in every instance of occurrence. These categories are themes etc. (NOT THE TYPE OF QUALITATIVE DATA)