1. Describes interesting, unique cases
2. Builds a foundation for clinical sciences
3. Is an in-depth description of an individual's condition or response to treatment
4. Can also focus on a group, institution, or other social unit such as a community or school
5. Is an intensive investigation designed to analyze and understand factors important to the etiology, care, and outcomes of a subjects problems
6. Is a comprehensive description of the subject's background, present status, and responses to interventions
7. Begins with a full history, full description of problems, symptoms, prior treatments, demographic and social factors
8. Delineates treatment plan if experimental
9. Documents all interventions, responses, interpretations of outcomes, and follow-ups
10.May be qualitative or quantitative data
11.Major contribution is its ability to provide information that can be used to generate hypotheses or areas for further investigation.  Because it allows for a thorough analysis of a single situation, it can lead to the discovery of a relationship not seen before.
 

1. Is an alternative approach to traditional experimental research that allows us to draw conclusions about the effects of treatment on the responses of a single subject under controlled conditions
2. Provides a controlled experimental approach to the study of a single case
3. Provides the flexibility to observe change under ongoing treatment conditions
4. Requires the same adherence to  logical design and control as other experimental research based on a research hypothesis that indicates the expected relationship between an independent and dependent variable
5. Is distinguished from case study by repeated measures and design phases
6. Uses baseline and intervention phases, repeatedly measuring the target behavior in both conditions
7. Uses multiple baseline design
8. Is analyzed by visual inspection of the data, looking at the trend, the slope of the trend

© S. Bevins (1999).