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stressful situations. The assumption is that by carefully studying individuals who are socially
marginal, who are experiencing unusual situations, or who are going through a difficult phase in
their lives, we can learn something about human nature.
Sigmund Freud was a master of using the psychological difficulties of individuals to draw
conclusions about basic psychological processes. Freud wrote case studies of some of his most
interesting patients and used these careful examinations to develop his important theories of
personality. One classic example is Freud’s description of “Little Hans,” a child whose fear of
horses the psychoanalyst interpreted in terms of repressed sexual impulses and the Oedipus
complex (Freud (1909/1964). [1]^
Another well-known case study is Phineas Gage, a man whose thoughts and emotions were
extensively studied by cognitive psychologists after a railroad spike was blasted through his skull
in an accident. Although there is question about the interpretation of this case study (Kotowicz,
2007), [2] it did provide early evidence that the brain’s frontal lobe is involved in emotion and
morality (Damasio et al., 2005). [3] An interesting example of a case study in clinical psychology
is described by Rokeach (1964),[4] who investigated in detail the beliefs and interactions among
three patients with schizophrenia, all of whom were convinced they were Jesus Christ.
In other cases the data from descriptive research projects come in the form of a survey—a
measure administered through either an interview or a written questionnaire to get a picture of
the beliefs or behaviors of a sample of people of interest. The people chosen to participate in the
research (known as the sample) are selected to be representative of all the people that the
researcher wishes to know about (the population). In election polls, for instance, a sample is
taken from the population of all “likely voters” in the upcoming elections.
The results of surveys may sometimes be rather mundane, such as “Nine out of ten doctors prefer
Tymenocin,” or “The median income in Montgomery County is $36,712.” Yet other times
(particularly in discussions of social behavior), the results can be shocking: “More than 40,000
people are killed by gunfire in the United States every year,” or “More than 60% of women
between the ages of 50 and 60 suffer from depression.” Descriptive research is frequently used
by psychologists to get an estimate of the prevalence (or incidence) of psychological disorders.