**2. Method**

Qualitative research approaches lend themselves well to applied clinical practice in the therapeutic field since they foreground an interpretation of the words and experiences which are expressed by the client. This can be captured in written form in many ways. Clinical case reports typically take an informal qualitative approach as a recount of the clinical session with therapist reflections which are important for developing understandings and communicating with further clinicians [91] and in the context of education [92]. However, contemporary understandings of the research case study take a more systematic approach to methodology in the clinical context. Alpi and Evans explore the differences between a case report and a research case study, where the latter is important in addressing the complexity of deep and rich data within a real-world context [93]. Case study research contributes new ways of understanding complex practices, linking conceptual understandings derived from research to applied research-based practice as a snapshot in time and space to provide new understandings [94]. The essential role of both clinical research and formal evidencebased research is considered by Szajewska as needed to contribute to improved health outcomes for clients [95]. Systematic case study research contributes valuable evidence which can describe, explore or explain a clinical phenomenon of interest within a particular context, and which can document and theorize rare events in the naturally occurring context, which in turn builds professional knowledge in a credible manner [96]. It is noted that concurrent typologies conceptualizing research case study from Stake [97] and Yin [92, 98] can be applied within the research process [96].

Following early publication of specific case report [1], further approaches exploring clinical cases from a research point of view have been explored and developed to shed light, informed by thinking about how a research case study approach can be applied to GIM practice [99]. By updating and integrating both theory and methodology, the current article aims to achieve deeper understandings of the previous clinical case report by further contextualizing and expanding the clinical information into a research case study, using additional evidence and a deeper reflective and analytical process in line with current research understandings. In doing so, this article demonstrates a complex approach of seeking to change one type of publication to another,

*Reframing Motherhood within a Jungian Approach to Snow White: A Research Case Study Using… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109443*

updating theory and method to achieve deeper understandings relevant to practice. Whilst the original case report detailed many clinical aspects and some reflective and interpretive processes based on the literature and experience available at the time, a more thorough and systematic research case study approach was anticipated to have value in deepening understandings of this unique clinical case material.

In fact, research case study methodology allows for the intensive description, exploration, and explanation of a particular case or group of cases, and can provide valuable knowledge which communicates effectively to clinicians seeking to apply new knowledge to their practice. Research cases may be selected in a number of different ways, using the context to explore what is described as an intrinsic case with unique characteristics [96, 97]. Further, an explanatory approach [92, 98] can be applied to illuminate the case in its context. A clear and systematic methodology needs to be established for case study research, especially considering multiple data sources and the way that these are analyzed. These analytic techniques include (1) pattern matching, related to observed and predicted patterns, and (2) explanation building, using an iterative process to understand the complexity of the pattern matching as based on the work of Yin [92] in order to understand all of the research and clinical implications.

## **2.1 Systematic approach**

Combining these several different theoretical and methodological requirements, the systematic method devised for the current research case study application comprises the following steps: (1) identify an intrinsic case with unique characteristics; (2) identify a pattern evidenced in the clinical material; (3) apply analytical techniques of pattern matching, and (4) undertake an iterative explanatory approach to understand the complexity of the pattern matching and its variations. Within this, a Jungian interpretive framework informs the overall methodology, as has previously occurred in other work undertaking an intertextual semiotic approach [46]. The current four-step methodological approach is now further explained.
