CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES

1. A case study is an in-depth examination of a single case or situation - e.g. a family, school, workplace, or even a single person.

   • The data provided is usually qualitative and in-depth, but not representative.
     • They can be used in large-scale studies to add qualitative detail to quantitative data.
       • EXAMPLE: Townsend studied poverty, and used case studies to show how living in poverty affected real people.
   • They can be used to study exceptional cases, e.g. Genie.
   • They study real-world situations.
     • So there's no need to set up a situation.
   • Observations are exanples of case studies.

2. They can be used to formulate a hypothesis or test a theory on a small scale.

   • EXAMPLE: Paul Willis' study of 'the lads'.
     • Some argue that he romantasised his findings too much and that because of that, his research was less credible.

3. PRACTICAL

   • They can provide useful research into other projects.
   • Time consuming
   • Difficult to record ALL the information
   • Hard to find a representative individual
   • The study subjects may leave or die

4. ETHICAL

   • Some case studies, especially ones which have happened by chance, are more ethical to study than it would be to set up that situation artificially
   • May involve deception.

5. THEORETICAL

   • Qualitative data means more favoured by INTERPRETIVISTS than by POSITIVISTS.
   • They can be used to test if a theory applies to a certain situation.
     • Surveys can be more informed because of a case study.
   • Researchers all interpret things differently and uniquely, so there may be some perspective bias.
   • The data from case studies is usually very difficult to replicate or find comparable studies for, and is therefore unreliable.
   • The focus on an individual situation means that the data is not good for making generalisations.

6. A LONGDITUDINAL case study is one which takes place over many years.