Hafsa Miah FE13
Evaluate the little Hans study
Strengths of the little Hans study are that they support the usefulness of case studies and have the ability to reveal and treat the origins of abnormal behaviour. In fact some forms of psychotherapy rely on building up a long and detailed case history as an aid to understanding and then helping the client. Case studies like that of little Hans are able to produce very in-depth qualitative data. In fact Freud argued that it was the special and intimate relationship between Hans and his father that displayed such progress of the analysis
However, this case study only relates to little Hans as one individual and therefore there is a danger in generalising the findings to the population. There is no way of assessing how typical little Hans was and whether or not his situation can be generalised as the study could have been unique between Freud, Hans’s father and little Hans. As well as this, Hans’s father and mother were supporters of Freud’s ideas thus they may have been raising little Hans in relation to Freud's theories so when it came to giving evidence of little Hans’s phobia they did so in relation to Frauds’ theories. Freud himself did not regularly meet little Hans as he only met him on one or two occasions, so Freud was only interpreting what Hans’s father was interpreting of little Hans so it lacks a lot of objectivity.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The Quality of Written Communication is fine here. The candidate makes good and accurate use of language in order to precisely convey their evaluative intentions to the examiner. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are all correctly and proficiently used and there is a confident use of the specialist terminology required of Psychology students writing evaluations.
Level of analysis
The Level of Analysis here is very good. The candidate has made five strong arguments for and against the case study of Little Hans, showing the examiner their extensive knowledge of evaluative points when it comes to psychological research, Each point is cross-linked to another issue about the study, e.g. the paragraph on the usefulness of case studies leads on to a mention of qualitative data, and the paragraph on reliability crosses over to replicability, generalisability, and validity. This integrated approach is what gives the essay it's succinct strength. It does not feel disjointed and the candidate has combined a number of debates that are common to the case study in order to effectively evaluate the study. Where I would ask the candidate to improve is only in the minor instance where they do not make the tie to the scientific debate in Psychology in light of the study not being replicable nor objective. Other than that, this is a sound essay which is both well-expressed and well-organised.
Response to question
This is a very cohesive essay that shows the examiner the candidate possesses a very in-depth knowledge of the case study of Little Hans as well as the tools required to evaluate psychological evidence. The only quip I have is that the candidate might wish to include an introductory paragraph outlining the study - very briefly, as this is only an evaluation; it just seems as though the essay is missing a suitable introduction as it starts off right away with the analysis. Similarly, a concluding paragraph about the evaluation of the study may be appropriate in giving the answer the 'bookended' feel an A Level Psychology essay should have, as at the moment it can feel slightly incomplete (though not in the sense that it doesn't satisfy the question).
