Lesson 3.1.4.4.4

3.1.4.4.4 Case studies Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 4

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 3.1.4.4.4, Case studies: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), Unit 4: Research methods, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What is a case study in psychology?

    • A controlled experiment in which variables are changed
    • A short observation of animals in a zoo only
    • An in-depth investigation of one person, group or event
    • A large survey of thousands of people in one day

  2. Which method is most typical of a case study?

    • Collecting detailed information from a single individual over time
    • Testing many people at once in a laboratory with the same test and the same instructions
    • Sending a questionnaire to thousands of people across the country by post or online
    • Comparing two groups in a randomised experiment with a control and a treatment condition

  3. What is a strength of a case study?

    • It requires very little time or planning, so it can be carried out at short notice each day
    • It can always be generalised to the whole population because the findings are so detailed
    • It allows the researcher to control all extraneous variables tightly across the whole study
    • It can provide rich, detailed data that may reveal unusual or important insights

  4. What is a weakness of a case study?

    • The findings may not generalise to other people because the sample is so small
    • The method always needs thousands of participants, which makes it too expensive for most studies
    • The findings always apply to every person in the world, since the detail shows a general rule
    • The method cannot collect any detailed information, so the findings are shallow and vague

  5. Which strength of case studies is linked to rare conditions?

    • They allow study of rare cases that could not be investigated in large samples
    • They show that all cases are identical, which makes it easy to predict the outcome of each
    • They remove the need to collect any data, because the single case already answers the question
    • They guarantee the same results as an experiment, so they can replace controlled trials entirely

  6. A researcher studies one patient with a rare memory condition over several years. What type of study is this?

    • A matched pairs design
    • A case study
    • A laboratory experiment
    • A questionnaire survey

  7. Which data are most likely to be collected in a case study?

    • Only numerical scores from a single standard test taken once
    • Only answers to closed questions from a large group of people
    • Only the results of a random sample of thousands of participants
    • Interviews, observations and records about the individual

  8. What is a key weakness of a case study with regard to bias?

    • The researcher's interpretation may be influenced by their own expectations
    • Participants cannot be influenced by the researcher, so the data are always objective and fair
    • The researcher always stays completely neutral, so their expectations never affect the findings
    • The method removes the need for any interpretation, since the raw data speak for themselves

  9. Why might a researcher use a case study to study a unique brain injury?

    • Because a single unusual case can reveal how the brain functions in ways that larger studies might miss
    • Because single cases make statistical testing unnecessary, since the result is clear already in the data
    • Because a single case always proves a general rule that applies to all people with the condition
    • Because a case study uses a large control group alongside the single case for comparison purposes

  10. Which statement about case studies is most accurate?

    • They offer depth at the cost of generalisability
    • They offer generalisability at the cost of depth
    • They offer neither depth nor generalisability
    • They offer both depth and generalisability equally

  11. A researcher studies a group of 10 children who all grew up in the same unusual circumstances. Which method is this?

    • A structured interview with 500 participants
    • A randomised laboratory experiment
    • A case study
    • A large-scale questionnaire

  12. Which feature distinguishes a case study from a survey?

    • A case study studies many people briefly, while a survey studies a few people in depth
    • A case study always uses a control group, while a survey never does
    • A case study studies a few cases in depth, while a survey studies many people more briefly
    • A case study always uses numbers, while a survey never uses numbers

  13. What does it mean if a researcher says a case study has rich data?

    • The data contain a lot of detailed and varied information about the case
    • The data are large in number but shallow in detail about each case
    • The data are only numerical measurements taken from a single test
    • The data are free from any errors or bias in how they were collected

  14. Which ethical issue is especially important in case studies?

    • Keeping the study secret from the rest of the world and the press
    • Protecting the identity and privacy of the individual being studied
    • Making sure the case is always a famous person with a public profile
    • Ensuring the researcher gets as much money as possible from the study

  15. Which of these would be a sensible reason for a researcher to choose a case study?

    • To test a large number of people with a single closed question in one short online survey
    • To remove the need for any ethical approval by collecting data from only one person
    • To create a random sample for a national survey that represents the whole population
    • To explore an unusual person or event in depth before designing a larger study

  16. Why is a case study sometimes called a qualitative method?

    • Because it is always carried out in a laboratory with strict control over the environment
    • Because it always produces numerical results only, which are then compared across groups
    • Because it gathers rich descriptive information rather than only numbers
    • Because it always uses a large number of participants who are each tested in the same way

  17. A case study finds that a single person responds well to a particular therapy. What is the main limitation of this finding?

    • It proves the therapy works for every person with the same condition
    • It may not apply to other people with different circumstances
    • It shows that therapy never works for anyone else who tries it
    • It removes the need for any further research into the therapy

  18. Which statement about the use of case studies in research is most accurate?

    • They are only used in research about animals because they cannot be applied to people at all
    • They are useless for generating any new ideas because they focus only on one person at a time
    • They are useful for generating ideas and testing rare cases, though they cannot prove general rules
    • They are useful for proving general rules with statistical certainty across the whole population

  19. Which factor makes a case study difficult to replicate?

    • Each case is unique, so repeating the study with the same person may not give the same results
    • Case studies never use any recorded information, so there is nothing to repeat in a second study
    • Case studies always use the same standardised tests, so the results are easy to reproduce exactly
    • Each case is always identical, so replication is simple and gives the same result every time

  20. A researcher writes a detailed report on a teenager who was raised without contact with others. Which method is this?

    • A structured questionnaire
    • A case study
    • A matched pairs design
    • A laboratory experiment

All AQA Psychology quizzes