Case Studies

[Ready for Fall 2026]

Modified: 2026-07-27 9:36 PM CDST

• Case studies are old and widely used methods in psychology.
• In case studies individuals or groups can be closely watched over a period of time.
• Then, predictions can be made about the future behavior of those individuals or groups.

• In medicine, case histories have long been used.
  • When you go to a medical doctor for the first time, you may have to fill out a medical case history.
  • You may answer a form that asks questions about your health and the health of your immediate family.
  • Why do doctors ask you these questions?
    • The answer is that those questions may lead to important clues in your diagnosis.
    • For example, questions about travel overseas and about your consumption of untreated drinking water may prove very useful in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal discomfort.
    • Answering yes to both of those questions opens the door for diagnoses related to amebiasis, or the harboring of amebas in your gut.
    • You may have ingested those amebas from well water, or from poorly treated water overseas.
  • However, answering no to those questions makes such a diagnosis much less likely.
• In clinical psychology, case histories are routinely used when patients are admitted to treatment facilities.
  • The questions will be different, for the most part, from medical case histories, in that the questions will be more about behavior, not about health.
  • Questions may be asked about
    • family structure and conflicts
    • about significant life events
    • about ways of dealing with people and problems
  • Diagnoses and treatment suggestions will come, partly, from the clinical case history.
• In both of these examples, the idea that the past predicts the future is implicit.
  • In forensic psychology the same relationship between past and future is seen.
    • For example, a parole board may have to decide whether or not to parole a convict based on that convict's behavior in prison.
    • But, what they are really deciding is whether or not they believe that convict will no longer engage in the behavior that caused the original conviction.
    • Similarly, expert witnesses may testify in court as to the mental state of a defendant at the time a crime was committed.
    • That testimony is usually based on a case history collected by the expert witness before the trial.
• Case studies are also used in business and economics to study how one company or industry profited from certain conditions while others did not. So, this method has a great deal of use in a variety of settings.