Case Study Method

To what extent may findings be generalized from a single case study?

Case study is one of the qualitative research methods that could be use to study psychological problems. It gives an in-depth investigation of human experiences, but it could only represents the particular individuals or groups. Case studies aren’t always perfect and quantitative researchers started to argue, to what extent may findings be generalized from a single case study?

Inferential Generalization & Transferability

Inferential generalization is when findings of the settings may apply to the settings outside. It is also called the transferability. A disadvantage of case studies is the research could not replicate, therefore it narrows the findings and makes the conclusion more focus. It may not be widely generalized, but it could definitely represents the people that are being research and it could be apply to people with similar settings. However, there are always exceptions of the cases.

In a rough conclusion, it is hard to identify whether the settings could be applied to situation outside or not. Moreover often it depends on different cases. It needs extra detailed information to support the conclusion for measuring the external validity. Thus, to measure the transferability, the question that needs to build up in mind is, to what extent are the settings similar? While comparing the two settings, it may bring up a more precise conclusion.

 

Theoretical Generalization

Theoretical generalization is when the findings from the case studies could be derived and able to develop on further study. There are two possibilities when the researches come to conclusions. They are either fit or contradict with current theories.

To prove that findings may be generalized from case studies, it is when the findings could fit the theoretical generalization and it could still work.

By using case study as the method, researchers might find out cases that are in the exception and even contradict to the published theories. This is when the findings start to become interesting and worth to investigate for further researches. It may not be generalized, but it could build up new topic for investigations instead of develop deeper understanding on current topic.

 

As in conclusion…….

Case studies may be generalized to the extent of people with similar characteristics as the individuals or groups that are being studied as it should also fits with current theories. If there are cases disobey any one of the two conditions, it is when the findings could not be generalized from a single case study.