ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses strengths and weaknesses of case-study methodology, together with methods used to analyse the data generated from the investigation. W. M. Runyan states that the single case-study method involves the presentation and interpretation of detailed information about a single individual. Runyan suggests that case-studies are further perceived to have low internal and external validity. The single case-study provides little basis for generalisation. Yin argues that the criteria involved in the problem of generalisation within the single case-study method might apply to a single experiment. Critics of case-study methodology, such as T. R. Kratochwill, have suggested that it is an impressionistic and non-verifiable method. Further criticisms of case-study research include biased data. The use of the informants' personal narrative in a single case-study permits sufferers of the illness to share their thoughts and feelings with others, to allow their listeners to marvel and wonder at their recollections of the past, rather than stress the fading: of their cognitive abilities.
