Transcript Case Study Research - Researcher Education Programme

Case Study Research
Introduction
• An important approach to research within the
qualitative tradition
• Widely used in educational research.
• Defined by interest in the case, not by the
methods (Stake, 2000)
• Most case studies in interpretive tradition, but
not exclusively.
What is a case study?
• Focus on one (sometimes more) distinct
incidence of a phenomenon.
• Detailed, deep examination of that incidence
• Study of the incidence in context
• Representation of the case as experienced by
those inside it (emic perspective)
• AND a critical review of the case by the
researcher (etic perspective)
3 functions of case study
• Description
• “I hope to demonstrate here that much of the political and educational
rhetoric which surrounds the notion of comprehensiveness in this country
ignores or is irrelevant to what actually goes on in schools” (Ball, 1981)
• Explanation
• Jane Jacobs in The Death and life of Great American Cities (1961) used the
example of New York to explain the importance of parks, pavements, the
importance of mixing land use and many other issues
• Evaluation
• “The present study was undertaken to look at the practices of some of the
remaining one teacher schools, and what might be learned from them
(Swidler, (2000)
Designing your case study
• Establish your research problem
• Select a case that will answer your research
question
• Consider your own role
• Entry to the field
• Ethics
Data collection
• Your role as the researcher
• Data analysis during collection
• When do you stop collecting data?
Data analysis
• Interpretational analysis
• Structural analysis
• Reflective analysis
Validity and reliability
• Postivist criteria
– Audit trails
– Pattern matching
• Interpretivist criteria
Generalisability Debate
• Generalisation is not possible. Instead “thick
description” “naturalistic” generalisation and
transferabilty are the aims (Stake, 2000 for
example)
• The whole point of doing case study is to
arrive at the same kind of empirical
generalisation that a survey researcher aims
at. Though there are considerable difficulties.
(Hammersley et. al.)
Writing up a case study
• Finalizing your definition
• Reflective reporting
• Analytic reporting
Pros and Cons of Case study research
• Often highly accessible to general reader
• Aids comparison with readers own situtation
(emic perspective)
• Reveals researcher’s perspective (etic)
• Useful for examining data outliers
• Not easily generalisable (in the traditional sense
anyway)
• Can pose ethical risks to participants
• Highly labour intensive, and require high level
language skills to identify concepts and themes
References
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Ball, Stephen, J. (1981) Beachside Comprehensive: A case study of secondary schooling. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge
Gall, Gall & Borg (2003) Educational research. Allyn & Bacon, Boston MA (Chapter 14 provided the outline
for this session)
Gomm, Hammersley & Foster (eds.) (2000) Case Study Method. Sage, London University Library (300.72
cas)
Hammersley, Gomm & Foster, (2000) Case study and theory in Gomm, Hammersley & Foster (eds.) (2000)
Case Study Method. Sage, London University Library (300.72 cas)
Jacobs, Jane (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Penguin, Harmondsworth
Stake (2000) Case studies In. Denzin &Lincoln (eds) Handbook of Qualitative research (2nd ed.) Sage,
Thousand Oaks, CA p 435-454) University Library (300.72 den)
Swidler, S. A. (2000) Notes on a country School Tradition: Recitation as an individual strategy. – Journal of
Research in Rural Education (29) 517-544
Yin, Robert (2009) Case Study Research,: Design and Methods, 4th. Ed. Sage, London University Library
(300.72 yin)