About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about case studies, focusing in particular on: (i) differentiating between primary data, which is collected by the researcher themselves, and secondary data, which has been collected for a previous study; (ii) a meta-analysis as an alternative to these data collection types, which involves combining findings from multiple studies to draw a conclusion; (iii) the parameters of a case study, which involves an in-depth analysis of a single person, event, group or community; (iv) the aims and results of Early Interventions for Psychosis (EIP) in Leeds, Worcestershire and Southampton; (v) sources of information that a case study can draw on, including observations, surveys, interviews and practitioner notes; (vi) Freud’s early case study work with individuals like Little Hans; (vii) key features of case studies, including their longitudinal designs and modern implementations of both qualitative and quantitative methods; (viii) comparing idiographic and nomothetic approaches to case study research methods; (ix) differentiating between prospective, retrospective and instrumental case studies; (x) strengths of case study research, including that it provides rich, qualitative information and has minimal participant requirements; (xi) limitations of case study research, including that it can lack scientific rigour and is subject to bias; (xii) Bradshaw’s 1998 case study of ‘Carol’, which was concerned with the effectiveness of treating women with schizophrenia using CBT; (xiii) the four measures used in this case study, which were the Raw Functioning Scale (RFS), the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS), hospitalisations and the Global Pathology Index (GPI); (xiv) the stages of ‘Carol’s’ treatment, starting with building rapport and progressing to understanding CBT and then treatment; (xv) the results of this implementation of CBT, which were that ‘Carol’ improved on all four measured parameters across the CBT treatment period and in follow-up assessments; (xvi) Bradshaw and Roseborough’s 2004 assessment of the effectiveness of CBT as a treatment for schizophrenia; (xvii) some strengths and limitations of the reliability of the findings from the ‘Carol’ case study, including that the DSM-IV was used to evaluate symptoms throughout the study and that elements like rapport building were difficult to replicate; (xviii) some strengths of the validity of the ‘Carol’ case study, including that it used both quantitative and qualitative measures, and that measures were taken covering many elements of life; (xix) the fact that the ’Carol’ case study was the first of its kind to assess the effectiveness of CBT at treating schizophrenia using a single case example; (xx) Lavarenne and colleagues’ 2013 study investigating psychotherapy as a treatment for schizophrenia; (xxi) the key feelings experienced by individuals with weak ego boundaries; (xxii) the methodology and key recorded factors in Lavarenne’s study; (xxiii) some key findings from Lavarenne’s study, as well as highlighting its potential research bias.

About the lecturer

Dr Cody Porter is a senior lecturer in social psychology in the department of Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England. Dr Porter’s research interests are in information elicitation, lie detection and offending behaviour. Some of Dr Porter’s recent publications include ‘Implementing converged security risk management: Drivers, barriers, and facilitators’ (in press) and ‘Applying the asymmetric information management technique to insurance claims’ (2022).