Methods of Enquiry in Psychology — Psychology STD 11 Humanities — Question

Definition: A technique in which one person is studied in depth.

• It is reconstruction of the past.
• It is a method in which one individual is studied using multiple measures.
• It's goal is to provide an in depth descriptive account of some phenomenon.

Characteristics:

• In the case study, an individual is taken as the unit of analysis.
• Focus is directed to particular case (individual) and not the method of analysis.
• Various methods of analysis are combined to gain information.
• A case study may utilize interview observation and psychological test.
• It is valuable research strategy in the fields of clinical psychology and human development
• They provide a narrative or detailed description of the events that took place in a person's life.
• Multiple sources of information are used in case studies.

They should not be generalized as they depict the life history of a particular person only.
Those unique aspects of a person's life which can't be duplicated for practical or ethical reasons (e.g. an accident) are captured by case study.