!RUNNING HEADER: CASE STUDY
Case Study Information
Jaiden Taggart
PSYC 255-B05
Professor Chris Ioimo
Liberty University
CASE STUDY
Introduction
This paper aims to explain and examine a case study. It will explain what and why you use
a case study. Then the advantages and disadvantages of a case study. It will then discuss the
reasons why it would be chosen over other research methods. Lastly it will explain how
researchers go about getting information when putting together a case study.
What is a case study?
A case study is an in-depth observation of an individual, animal, event or treatment method
(Crawford, 2016). A Case Study usually involves qualitative methods. They are mainly used
in social, clinical, educational and business research. Typically, an intensive observation is
done and detailed account is taken because the event is extremely rare and unusual
(Crawford, 2016).
Advantages and disadvantages of a Case Study
There are many advantages and disadvantages of a Case Study. A major advantage to a case
study is that we can study rare events that would be unethical to study otherwise. Use
studies also provide us with unique opportunities to better understand situations that we
could not study experimentally (Crawford, 2016). As stated in the paragraph above, case
studies are often observations of unique situations. This is a reason for a case study being an
advantage, as without a case study there would be no way to record data ad get research.
Case studies can help experimenters adapt ideas and produce novel hypothesis which can be
used for later testing (February 19, 2012).
Despite the advantages, there are disadvantages to this method. Do not always know the
cause of the behaviour. Another one is the events many not influence everyone in the same
way (Crawford, 2016). For example there was someone in hospital and they gathered
information from his past. But there could be other things that they are missing. As because
they are being biased they took the information from his past. He was lucky enough to
survive, but not all people would have survived if the information they took from the pat
was used. This explaining why a Case Study may have limitations. One of the main
criticism of a Case Study is that the data collected cannot be generalised to the wider
CASE STUDY
population. This leads to data being collected over longitudinal case studies and not always
being relevant ( February 19, 2012).
Choosing to Use a Case Study
There are many reasons why a researcher would choose to use a Case Study over a research
method. You can use case studies for very rare situations. For example, there have been pass
case studies on rare events, such as humans swallowing objects, depriving child of a
language (Crawford, 2016). You wouldn’t be able to use these studies in an experiment, as
they are real life situations. Therefore, this would be when a case study would come into
place. Case studies can also be used in other situations. Case studies can also be used fo
many kinds of practical application (Crawford, 2016). There are many different types of
case studies. It is important to know what they are and how and when you can use them. For
example an explanatory case study is when an incident happens, an explanation is required.
The study will also share details about the impact of the event. In most cases, this report will
use evidence to predict future occurrences (Ronita Mohan, 2021).
Retrieval of information
There are many ways a researcher can gather information that can be used for a case study.
The most common way is through observation. They need to be able to observe the
information before they can gather the information to make a proper case study.
CASE STUDY
References
Crawford, A.R. (2016). Introduction to research: Less frights, more insights (Custom 2nd ed).
Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Ronita Mohan. (20 September, 2021). What is a Case Study. Retrieved from
https://venngage.com/blog/what-is-a-case-study/#descriptive
19 February, 2012. Advantages and disadvantages of case studies. Retrieved from
https://psud43.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-case-studies/
