Vocational case study, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Vocational Case Study

In-depth examination of an individual, group, or event that focuses on features of behavior or experience related to work, particularly vocational choice or adjustment. Case studies are a type of descriptive research method, and have been reported for decades in the vocational literature. The strength of the vocational case study as a method is that it can provide a concrete mapping of a theory's elements onto an actual life. Where a theory proposes universal application, even a single case study that provides counterfactual evidence can serve to disprove the theory. However, because most vocational theories do not claim universality, case studies may generally not be used to disprove them. Case studies, because they provide only a single individual's information, provide very poor bases on which to build a causal theory. They are difficult to generalize from, except to suggest that the types of experiences or behaviors reported for an individual may also be simlar to those experienced and reported by others. However, the depth of description (and speculation) provided by a well written case study can serve as a basis for heightening an investigator's sensitivity to particular classes of experience and behavior that prior theory may have ignored. Likewise, a case study may prove useful for the practitioner working with clients who may evince features similar to the case, features that the practitioner might otherwise have not attended to. Finally, many instructors of vocational psychology and career interventions find the presentation of case studies to students useful, because the students are often more able to become interested in the material presented via cases than to material presented solely via theory and reports of empirical research.

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