Strengths of Clinical/Case Studies

Case Study: Krista and Tatiana Hogan

Limited Generalizability of Clinical/Case Studies

A researcher wants to establish general principles about how all humans experience grief. To do this, they conduct an intensive, long-term investigation of a single individual who has recently lost a loved one. Which statement best evaluates the researcher's choice of method for their stated goal?

Freud's Use of Case Studies

Which of the following best describes a case study in psychological research?

A case study is restricted to purely qualitative data collection methods, such as interviews and naturalistic observation, and cannot include quantitative measures like psychological testing or physiological measurements.

A researcher is conducting an in-depth case study of an individual with a rare form of amnesia. Match each research activity the researcher performs with the correct data collection category as defined within the case study method.

A clinical researcher is conducting an in-depth case study of an individual with a rare neurocognitive condition. Arrange the following research activities in the logical sequence required to move from establishing a qualitative foundation to performing an integrated, multi-method analysis of the individual.

A researcher evaluating the completeness of a case study on a rare neurological disorder argues that the report is limited because it only provides qualitative descriptions; to improve the evaluation, the researcher suggests incorporating ______ data, such as psychological testing or physiological measurements.

A researcher is constructing a research protocol for a comprehensive case study of a rare social unit. Arrange the following actions in the correct order to create a methodologically sound multi-method design that moves from unit selection to the final integrated analysis.

In psychological research, case studies are typically conducted on individuals who exhibit highly common and average psychological profiles.

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the proper application of a case study method in psychological research?

A research methods professor presents four defining features of case study methodology and asks students to analyze each by identifying the methodological rationale it serves. Match each case study feature to the justification that best explains why that feature is incorporated into the case study design.

A student is critiquing a classmate's research proposal in which the classmate argues that a case study is the most appropriate observational method because the participant has a _____—a characteristic the psychological case study literature explicitly identifies as a key criterion that justifies focusing intensive research effort on a single individual rather than a larger sample.