The clinical method arose within the associated frameworks of.
Answer: psychiatry and clinical psychology
The Case Study Method: One Subject at a Time
The case study methodinvolves the study of one individual over a span of time.
It is similar to the clinical method. The difference between the the two methods
is that the subject in the case study method is not necessarily troubled.
Here is an example of the case study method. The Gestalt psychologist Max
Wertheimer and the physicist Albert Einstein were personal friends. Based on a
number of interviews with Einstein, Wertheimer studied the creative thought
processes utilized by Einstein in his formulation of the Special Theory of Relativ-
ity. Wertheimer’s observations and conclusions are the basis of one of the chapters
in his book Productive Thinking(1959).
The difference between the clinical method and the case study method is that the subject in
the case study method is not necessarily.
Answer: troubled.
The Survey Method: Large Samples from Larger
Populations
A surveyattempts to take a large, general look at an aspect of behavior. Examples
of topics include sexual behavior, eating behavior, how people raise children,
spending habits, and so forth. A researcher may be interested in studying a popu-
lation. A populationis a well-defined group. It need not be large. For example,
a home aquarium with ten fish is correctly said to have a population of ten. How-
ever, in practice populations are often large (e.g., the population of the United
States, the population of California, the population a particular city). Conse-
quently, it is common to conduct the survey taken on a sampleof the popula-
tion. The sample should be taken at random from the population. A random
sampleallows the laws of chance to operate and provides an equal opportunity
for any member of the population to be included in the sample. Members of the
population fill out questionnaires, are interviewed, or are otherwise evaluated.
This constitutes the survey.
Among the more famous surveys conducted during the twentieth century
are the Kinsey surveys of sexual behavior published about fifty years ago. Con-
Research Methods in Psychology: Gathering Data 21
