
For example, a study might be designed to determine if there is a relationship between the number of children with autism in a particular community and the month of their birth.įigure 1 presents a bar graph of a study of number of children with autism and month of birth. Correlational studies cannot tell us anything about cause and effect, only that there is a relationship between two or more things. Correlational StudiesĬorrelational studies look for a relationship between two or more variables, or things, that naturally occur in the same environment. The disadvantage of a case study is that the information gathered about one person or a small group of people cannot readily be applied or generalized to other people or other cases in other situations or other settings and, therefore, may be of limited use.Ĭlick here to check out a sample case study.The advantage of a case study is that it allows the researcher to gather a lot of information about one person or one case.

Case studies are typically used in research that describes the development of an individual, group, or situation over a period of time in order to provide a detailed account of what is occurring within its real-life context. Case StudiesĬase studies look at a single subject (e.g., a child with autism) or a single case (e.g., a classroom for children with autism).

The five types of studies are discussed below. There are five basic types of research studies, each designed to answer different kinds of questions.
