AQA PSYCHOLOGY (A-LEVEL) -
RESEARCH METHODS - CASE STUDY
QUESTIONS & CORRECT ANSWERS
Case study - Correct Answer ✔✔ A research investigation that involves a detailed study
of a single individual, institution or event, using information from a range of sources,
such as from the person concerned and also from their family and friends. Case studies
provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalize from. Case
studies are generally longitudinal; in other words they follow the individual or group over
an extended period of time. The findings are organized to represent the individual's
thoughts, emotions, experiences and abilities.
What research techniques might be used in a case study? - Correct Answer ✔✔ The
people may be interviewed or they might be observed while engaged in daily life.
Psychologists might use IQ tests or personality tests or some other kind of
questionnaire to produce psychological data about the target person or group. They
may use the experimental method to test what the target person/group can or can't do.
Strength - Correct Answer ✔✔ Especially useful as a means of investigating rare
instances of human behavior and experience, for example investigating cases of people
with brain damage or, in the case study of an event, how people responded to the 2011
London riots. It would not be ethical to generate such conditions experimentally. The
complex interaction of many factors can be studied, in contrast with experiments where
many variables are held constant.
Strength - Correct Answer ✔✔ Offers rich, in-depth data, so information that may be
overlooked using other methods is likely to be identified.
Limitation - Correct Answer ✔✔ It is difficult to generalize from individual cases as each
one has unique characteristics.
Limitation - Correct Answer ✔✔ Case studies often involve the recollection of past
events as part of the case history and such evidence may be unreliable, since case
studies are only identified AFTER a key event has occurred (such as damage to the
brain or a riot) and therefore we cannot judge whether the apparent changes observed
actually were present or not originally.
RESEARCH METHODS - CASE STUDY
QUESTIONS & CORRECT ANSWERS
Case study - Correct Answer ✔✔ A research investigation that involves a detailed study
of a single individual, institution or event, using information from a range of sources,
such as from the person concerned and also from their family and friends. Case studies
provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalize from. Case
studies are generally longitudinal; in other words they follow the individual or group over
an extended period of time. The findings are organized to represent the individual's
thoughts, emotions, experiences and abilities.
What research techniques might be used in a case study? - Correct Answer ✔✔ The
people may be interviewed or they might be observed while engaged in daily life.
Psychologists might use IQ tests or personality tests or some other kind of
questionnaire to produce psychological data about the target person or group. They
may use the experimental method to test what the target person/group can or can't do.
Strength - Correct Answer ✔✔ Especially useful as a means of investigating rare
instances of human behavior and experience, for example investigating cases of people
with brain damage or, in the case study of an event, how people responded to the 2011
London riots. It would not be ethical to generate such conditions experimentally. The
complex interaction of many factors can be studied, in contrast with experiments where
many variables are held constant.
Strength - Correct Answer ✔✔ Offers rich, in-depth data, so information that may be
overlooked using other methods is likely to be identified.
Limitation - Correct Answer ✔✔ It is difficult to generalize from individual cases as each
one has unique characteristics.
Limitation - Correct Answer ✔✔ Case studies often involve the recollection of past
events as part of the case history and such evidence may be unreliable, since case
studies are only identified AFTER a key event has occurred (such as damage to the
brain or a riot) and therefore we cannot judge whether the apparent changes observed
actually were present or not originally.
