Case Study Report in Psychology

Case Study Report in Psychology Need Help In Writing a Case Study in Child Psychology? A case study is one of the research methods which is widely used in different branches of psychology. A case study in psychology involves in-depth investigation of a single person, group or a community. Students are often assigned to write a case study paper in psychology that may be a difficult task for many beginners and if you are one of them, you should read our easy guide on how to write a case study report in psychology. Typically, the data for a case study are collected from different sources and by using a variety of methods, for example, observations, structured questionnaires, test scores, and interviews. The research may last for an extended period of time which makes possible to study processes and developments just as they happen. The case study research method was first applied in clinical medicine and now it is widely used in different branches of psychology such as child psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and more. A case study for psychology is not a research method in itself â€" the researchers have to choose some specific methods of collecting and analyzing data that will help to generate material suitable for case studies. The main sources of data for psychology case studies are • observations of a person’s daily routine • unstructured interviews with a person or the people who know her/him • personal diaries, • personal notes (photos, letters, notes) • official documents (clinical notes, case notes, appraisal reports, etc.) Of course, most of this information is qualitative (verbal descriptions), but psychologists might also do a qualitative research and gather numerical data. In psychology case studies are often devoted to studying a personality of a particular individual. When writing a personality psychology case study, you should perform a detailed investigation and give a description of an individual’s history and his current status. Your case study report should include information about the person’s family history, his/her educational background, a history of emotional problems, employment record, and a medical history. Advantages of a case study in psychology: • It gives detailed (qualitative) information • It reveals insight for further research • It allows to investigate some unethical situations • It can be used as an important way of illustrating theories But case studies have a number of limitations: • The results of case studies can’t be generalized to a wider population • Researchers’ own subjective opinions can influence the interpretation of results (researcher bias) • They are difficult to replicate. • Psychology case studies are time-consuming. How to Do Case Study Research in Psychology When doing your case study, you should follow certain steps of case study method in psychology. But keep in mind that any case study that you have to carry out for your psychology lab assignment cannot be so detailed, in-depth, and extensive as any formal research study. Data collection First, you should gather relevant information about the participant of your case study from all available sources. You can interview your participant and his/her family and friends. You can also do your own observation and include the participant’s self-report of his/her experience and the available results of psychological testing on the participant. Data analysis Summarize the results of your observations and interviews and write a description of the participant for the Results section of your psychology case study report. It would be about 2-4 pages. Your summary should be focused on the topic question, but you should also include subsection presenting some general information, for example, participant history and his/her family origin and current functioning (education, occupation, family status). Besides, you should provide a description of the presenting problem. Make sure to take necessary steps to protect the participant’s confidentiality and avoid very specific details which may damage your participant’s anonymity. Presentation of the results in your research report Your case study report should be formatted in APA style and generally include the following sections: Introduction You have to review the previous research and different theories on your research topic Methods You should present a general description of your participant Materials Provide description of all material that you may have used, for example, online personality test Procedures Describe your methods of collecting data (observation, interviews, etc.) Results Present the summary of your case study in 2-4 pages. Don’t use any citation here because here you should describe your results. Discussion Provide interpretation of your participant’s case from the perspective of the contemporary theory and current research. You should include the theory and research that were discussed in your introduction and some other research or theory that can help analyze your case study and interpret the results. This section should also include a note on the limitations of your study. As you see, writing a psychology case study is not easy and requires strong analytical and critical thinking skills. If you are not confident in your ability to do this tricky assignment on your own, you can easily get professional writing help if you hire an expert writer on our paper writing service. We can help you in writing a case study of developmental psychology, psychotherapy or any other branch of psychology. Our experienced writer can provide you with a perfectly written model case study that can serve you as a great template.