A case study is a detailed piece of research with an individual or small group of people.

There are various reasons why a case study might be favoured by Psychological Researchers.

The subject matter of the case study might be highly unusual, so therefore it might be difficult to find a certain number of participants.

The person might be considered to be highly illustrative of people with a particular condition or in a particular circumstance, even though the condition or circumstance might not be statistically rare.

Another possibility is having a case study of a number of normal people and how they make a decision at key points in their lives.

The researchers might choose a small-scale study in terms of number of people in order to capture rich detail and show some of the complexity in the participants’ lives.

The case study might be an early stage of a larger programme of research, to help the researchers plan a well-designed experimental project.