case study psychology

case study psychology

The Impact of Case Studies in Psychology

1. Introduction to Case Study Methodology

At the same time, it was believed that the processes being studied were often too complex to allow for the methods of the natural sciences to be helpful. This method was a reaction to these views and was a means by which a bridge could be formed between the contextual and the nomothetic approaches to any given question. It provided an opportunity to use a scientific method to study events in the real-life context and it allowed a means by which hypotheses could be developed and tested in the same way as research in the basic sciences. This period saw a growth in the use of case study methods as well as the development of more general methodological discussions on the comparative merits of these methods.

The term “case study” comes from the French word for “research method.” It is an intensive, systematic investigation of an individual, a group, a community, or a societal event. Researchers collect data from a variety of sources to construct a detailed picture of the subject. Although typically seen as a method used to investigate individuals or small groups, it is, in fact, a research design that can also involve a series of small studies using a variety of methods to provide evidence. Case study methods have their roots in the clinical and psychoanalytic methods developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At this time, the foundation of the scientific method in the natural sciences was seen as the means by which reliable and objective knowledge could be obtained, but had not yet been fully accepted by many psychologists. A great deal of what was thought to be knowledge in psychology was based on philosophical reasoning and introspective analysis.

2. Benefits of Case Studies in Psychological Research

Case studies can be a great source to help inform cues as to what needs to be tested in explaining a psychological phenomenon. The information gathered in case studies on an individual can be analysed on a general level since the case studied provides information that may be relevant to a large audience of people. Hard evidence required to make a diagnosis is often difficult to obtain, and case studies have been described as being a means of providing a formalised record of what has occurred in real life. This is exemplified through the use of Genie, a child who was kept isolated and locked in a room for over 10 years. Thigpen and Cleckley’s case of multiple personality disorder is another primary example. To induce a British student to feign a mental illness and then be admitted to a series of psychiatric hospitals. The hospitals were not told that the student was a pseudopatient. He was to see if they would detect his normalcy, and to make it clear to him what the experience of the patients was like.

3. Limitations and Challenges of Case Studies

A case study is a particular way of qualitatively researching the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, and when. This now ineffective research tool can alter the individual’s internal process to that of seeking information and looks for a result, to skip to test hypothesis. “If the case study has a particular method or hypothesis being used to prove a theory, it will affect the decisions and actions of that case and render the methodology insufficient. This will also alter information obtained above as evidence is compiled in an attempt to support the method, rather than asking what actually occurred. The result shall be inadequate and the case deemed a failure.” Stepansky (1990) provides an example of this with a case in genetic studies where the aim was to disprove a genetic hypothesis that was incorrect. Any method to date has failed to answer how the hypothesis was found, due to there only being negative evidence and therefore the case necessarily puts a method to try and acquire a result, making it improbable it could be a case study. Coming from a positivist tradition, the change in evidence-based practice to post-positivist has also made case studies an unattractive proposition to researchers in the social sciences who are often pragmatist relativists.

Author has cited in Neale (1999), “If case studies are to achieve any general credibility and transferrable impact, it is of course essential they be conducted in a methodical and rigorous manner.” However, this highly systematic procedure may lead to a weakening of case studies’ traditional strengths. The first potential shortcoming of case studies is the pioneer of a particular genre; that restriction to an investigation of an issue, within a particular unit of analysis and under specific conditions, by a hypothesis. This is a restriction caused by the testing of the validity of the research administered by using evidence-based method, testing the evidence for the explanation, rather than testing the explanation itself. Guide (2001) believes that this hypothesis verification is an inappropriate vehicle for testing theory and is often done within case studies to try and “legitimise” the research using testing as a frame of reference. Hypothesis testing often results in what is called a “rival hypothesis explanation” in which the researcher employs a methodology of seeking alternative explanations, rather than promoting the theory the case study was initially supposed to explore. The focus on a singular hypothesis can actually reduce the exploratory and descriptive power of case studies, confining a particular piece of research to a theory destined to be brought into question.

4. Examples of Successful Case Studies in Psychology

These case studies are based on in-depth investigations of a single individual. Both HD theory and findings were reported in An Outline for Psychoanalysis (Fliess, 1895) and Studies on Hysteria (Breuer and Freud, 1895). It is essential to understand that at this point there was no distinction between case study and case history. In these publications, Freud was not only reporting his discovery of the so-called ‘abreaction’ and its effectiveness in releasing affect in order to provide a ‘cure’ for certain neurotic symptoms, but he was using individual patients’ life experiences to form the general theory which is now considered to be the basis of psychoanalytic theory and therapy. The distinction between the two is a matter of primary intent: the incidents in the patient’s history were being presented and used by Freud primarily to shed light on the theory and therapy, which they demonstrated, but he was actually taking it further and using the theory and the therapy enlightened to explain the cause and effects of the various state incidents and symptoms in the patients’ lives. Case studies such as Wolf Man (1918b) are crucially important in understanding Freud’s developments in theory and therapy but are often easier to understand after some general understanding of the theory and therapy has already been reached.

Freud’s most famous case studies include Little Hans (1909a) and The Rat Man (1909b). Even though these were case studies, Freud based most of his theories on interpreting actual behavior. Both Little Hans and The Rat Man were neurotic patients. Freud interpreted their dreams and attempted to extract from them unconscious fears they had beneath the surface. The little boy of five, Little Hans, had developed a phobia of horses. His father was a keen follower of a discipline called ophthalmology and had been showing the boy pictures of a horse with blinkers. Freud diagnosed that Little Hans’ fear stems from the fear of horses’ eyes, which are akin to human eyes. From then on, Freud had been interpreting Hans’ dreams where he discovered that Little Hans was actually jealous and fearful of his newborn baby sister, who was eager to look at her father naked. Freud terminated the case prematurely because he felt the six-year therapy would become a burden on the boy’s father.

5. Conclusion: The Future of Case Studies in Psychological Research

The development of this essay suggests that psychology has seen many limitations to case studies. Nonetheless, case studies provide the best methods available in understanding the individual. Most of the techniques used during case studies are options that can be utilized in safer and more accessible methods. This can be accomplished through the improvement of informed consent. Currently, case studies are seen as valid research methods; however, there are criticisms as to the complexity of the methods used and the collection of data. This essay has provided an insight into the use of case studies in psychological research and has highlighted this particular method of data collection as being an advantageous tool. It has been suggested that case studies are a valid research method when employed using various research designs. This is due to the new focus on activity and working models to understand the individual. Case studies should now be accepted in psychology to drill and formulate hypotheses for specific testing. This method can be greatly beneficial over the medical model as the understanding of the individual’s problems lies in the effective treatment for the future. The demands of case formulation and testing have paralleled the clinical research protocols; hence, it has been recommended to visualize data to provide a good explanation coming from research students or the cases themselves throughout the treatment phase. Sound empirical support and better prospective studies for the efficacy of cognitive behavioral treatment should be allowed for case studies to be complete. Although the main concern lies with the increase in the number of cases themselves, the individualized understanding that research can bestow for case on the single case is promising for the psychology in ensuring the service provision of a healthy future. This will be a useful method to monitor various brands of efficacy on various patient populations and ascertain evidence-based results. In conclusion, case studies using single or comparison methods are recommended as a research method that will bestow an understanding of the individual while fulfilling various data collection and analysis techniques, which are focused upon ensuring the configuration data can provide to increase the validity and reliability for the work done on understanding the individual. Future recommendations for the best current research method to understand configurational data are sequel studies using case itself.