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Methodology of Social Research

notes (a) Written Material: Written material is in the form of biographic diary, life-history, letters, creations
of literature, writings etc. through these, much matter may be received about case study. Diaries are
written about the people themselves. in these, people themselves write important incidences, memories
etc. of their lives. Allport says, “diaries are self-published records which knowingly or unknowingly
describe the dynamics of the mental life of the writer.” As such, through letters, written material cannot
be found, but in certain cases, important information may be received, which may not be possible
through other sources. in life history, entire life of the person is presented. Hence, from this point of
view, life-history has an important place in this method.

Notes in case study method, support is taken of some other documents also. Under these
documents, books related to the problem, magazines, records and notification
from the government and non-government institutions, reports related to the
past and present researches, government and non-government publications etc.
are included.

(b) Compiled Material: sometimes, information has to be specially compiled. such information is
compiled through interview of the related person or through apparent observation. from which
source, which information should be received, there is no definite rule for this. As per the need, any
source may be used.

21.6 precautions taken in case study

following precautions should be taken in case study:
1. An individual’s study should be done in his social background.
2. importance of family and other primary groups in the life of the individual should not be
forgotten.
3. efforts should be made to know those facts about the individual through which description
may be made about the entire life of the person.
4. the incidences of the person’s life should be presented in exact manner.
5. People should be chosen for study from the related geographic area only.
6. only a trained person should be made in-charge of this study.

21.7 Utility or Importance of Case Study

Utility or importance of the case study method may be made clear from the following description.
1. Intensive and Microscopic Study of the Problem: Although through this method only cases
can be studied, but doing only a complete, intensive and microscopic study of their various
aspects is the job of this process.

Did You Know? this method, because of its intensive and microscopic nature only, is very
useful in social research.

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