Case Studies

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Case Studies

Advantages

  • Case studies are useful because they are often the only way of studying a particular phenomenon
  • They can gather data that cannot be obtained by other means.
  • Another strength is that they produce valid data because the data comes fairly directly from the people concerned.
  • It is usually gathered in their natural surroundings
  • Freud's Case Studies: they can be used to hep the patient as well as to gather data.
  • They are therapeutic and have a practical application.
  • Freud's Case Studies: they use special means to uncover unconscious thoughts that cannot otherwise be assessed.
  • Freud had to develop special ways of gathering data from such a complex situation.

Disadvantages

  • Case studies as not replicable because the stimulation is unique.
  • Another researcher at another moment may collect different data.
  • If they are not replicable, they cannot be tested for reliability.
  • It is hard to take the results and say that they are true of other situations, therefore it lacks generalisability.
  • Freud's Case Studies: in the analysis there is need of interpretation which can lead to subjectivity, whereas scientifc study requires objectivity.
  • Freud's Case Studies: the concepts used, such as the unconscious, are not measurable and so are hard to test in a scientific way. Therefore they are hard to compare and for conclusions to be drawn.

Evaluation

They can be, sometimes, the only was to test and study a certain phenomenon and therefore allow psychologists to study unique situations. On the other hand they are difficult to replicate, thus harder to test reliability, and generally lack generalisability due to the uniqueness of the study and specific to an individual. 

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