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Holly S. Niemi Qualitative Research Methods CASE STUDY
“A case study is expected to catch the complexity of a single case. Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand its activity within important circumstances.” (xi, Stake).
Terminology: Case studies can draw from naturalistic, ethnographic, holistic, phenomenological, and biographic research methods. These are the most prominent research methods from which qualitative case study draw.
Intrinsic case study- With intrinsic case study, one has an interest in a particular case, not given by choice, but rather because there is a need to learn about the particular case. Instrumental case study- “This use of case study is instrumental to understand something else. Case study is instrumental to accomplishing something other than understanding something particular” (3-4).
Collective case study- With collective case study research, one chooses several subjects to study, instead of just one; there will be an important coordination between the individual studies (3-4, Stake).
Traditions of Case Study: “There is not a single wellspring of qualitative research. Its history is extensive, drawing from the evolving curiosities of humankind over the centuries, formally disciplined by ethnographers, social psychologist, historians, and literary critics” (35, Stake).
An important figure in the tradition of case study research is Louis Smith. Smith is one of the first educational ethnographers, who helped define the case as a bounded system, “drawing attention to it as an object rather than a process” (2, Stake). Furthermore, traditions of the qualitative researcher include an emphasis of “…episodes of nuance, the sequentially of happenings in context, the wholeness of the individual” (xii, Stake).
Data Collection and Analysis of Case Study: Data Collection • Open-ended Interview This is the most common type of interview in case study research. Due to the line of questioning, the participant becomes more of an “informant” than a respondent. The researcher asks about the facts of a matter, as well as for the respondent’s opinion (90, Yin).
• Focused Interview This interview technique is one in which the respondent is interviewed in a conversational manner that follows a certain set of questions, but for a short period of time. In this situation, the specific questions must be carefully worded, so that the researcher appears naïve about the topic (90-91, Yin). • Structured Interview For the structured interview, “the qualitative interviewer should arrive with a short list of issue-oriented questions, possibly handing the respondent a copy, indicating there is concern about completing an agenda. The purpose for the most part is not to get simple yes and no answers, but descriptions of an episode” (65, Stake).
• Structured Survey “Such a survey could be designed as part of a case study and produce quantitative data as part of the case study evidence” (90,Yin). This survey follows more structured questions.
• Documents and Physical Artifacts “Gathering data by studying documents follows the same line of thinking as observing or interviewing. One needs to have one’s mind organized, yet be open for unexpected clues” (68, Stake). Some examples of documents are progress reports, articles, proposals, letters, agendas, etc. “For case studies, the most important use of documents is to corroborate and augment evidence from other sources (87, Yin).
• Direct Observation During direct observation, the quantitative case study researcher keeps focused on categories or key events, attentive to background conditions that may influence subsequent analysis, but concentrated on what constitutes a tally” (62, Stake).
• Participant-Observation During participant-observation, the researcher is not a passive observer, but rather maintains a role in the case study and may participant in the events of the study (94, Stake).
Analysis • Different arrays, • Matrix of categories, • Data displays, such as flow charts and graphs, • Frequency of events table,
• and Chronology of
information. (111, Yin). Various Techniques for Recording Case Study:
Case study notes are the most common part of a database. These notes may be in diary form, on index cards, on tape, typed, handwritten or filed on a computer (102, Yin).
Case study documents collected during the course of the study will become relevant. The problem concerning these documents is the storage and retrieval of them (Yin, 103).
Tabular materials may include survey and other quantitative data. They may be based on surveys, observational counts, or archival data (103, Yin).
Narratives can be considered a formal part of the database and not part of the final case study report. The questions and answers can even serve directly as the basis for the final case study report (103-104, Yin).
Key Figures of Case Study Research:
Robert Yin is a key figure of case study research. He is the president and CEO of Cosmos Corporation. His company is an applied research and social sciences firm. His name and works have appeared and reappeared when searching for case study research methods. One of his first works was published in the early seventies and has continued to be published to the present. Some of his most noted works are:
Yin, R. Case study research: Design and methods, (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.
Yin, R. Applications of case study research, (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003. Other key figures of case study research are the roles of the researcher, such as; the teacher, advocate, evaluator and interpreter.
Teacher- This role is responsible for delivering information, and creating opportunities to educate the learner.
Advocate- The researcher is “obligated to indicate how the findings might be extrapolated, how they could be interpreted in various circumstances and how they accommodate theoretical discourse” (93, Stake).
Evaluator-The evaluation aspect of case study is when the researcher takes on the role of the evaluator, in which the evaluator looks for merit and shortcomings of the case (96, Stake).
Interpreter- The role of the interpreter during the case study research process is when the researcher finds ways to connect the findings to the problem to make them comprehensible conclusions (97, Stake).
Case Study Theoretical and Methodical Pitfalls:
Qualitative inquiry is subjective “The misunderstanding will occur because the researchers-interpreters are unaware of their own intellectual shortcomings and because of the weaknesses in methods fails to purge misinterpretations” (45, Stake).
Little pay-off in the advancement of social practice Some people in the field of education hold the belief “How can you generalize from a single case?” (10, Yin). Thus case study research is thought to have little pay-off in the advancement of social practice by some.
Bias Bias is a traditional prejudice in case study research mainly because it is more frequently encountered and less frequently overcome (10, Yin).
Substantial ethical risks The researcher must constantly make an effort to make honest and ethical choices (103, Stake).
Expensive in time and money A frequent complaint about case study research is the time and money investment. Often times, the result is massive amounts of data and unreadable documents (Yin, 11).
Annotated Articles, Books and Dissertations:
Creswell, J. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches, (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.
Summary: Various chapters in Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches focus on case study. More specific, Creswell examines how a researcher should identify the purpose of case study, strategies that focus on data collection, analysis, and writing, including several pages on qualitative procedures.
The focus of chapter 10 is on qualitative procedures in data collection. The author gives a graphic depiction of ways in which qualitative research can be collected. This graph would be quite helpful when identifying the advantages and disadvantages in using various methods of data collection in regards to case study research.
Merriam, S. Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1988.
Summary: This book examines how one does, learns, and teaches case study research in an educational setting. As stated by the author, “One of the two major purposes of this book is to delineate just what a case study is and, in particular, what a qualitative case study is. Second, the objective is to present the mechanics of conducting a case study in a simple, straightforward manner” (xii). The author includes designing the study, collecting and analyzing data, and writing the case report. The chapters are written in order of the steps taken for case study research. Part one consist of information to the nature of case study research, types and uses of it, as well as theory and literature in case study research. Part two contains chapters analyzing the data, triangulation, and writing the case report. This text is specifically for educators to design and conduct qualitative case study research.
Page, R. & Valli, L. Curriculum differentiation: Interpretive studies in U.S. secondary Schools, Chapter 7 Refugee students’ perceptions of curriculum differentiation. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.
Summary: In this book, there are several chapters that give examples of case study research. One example in particular focuses on ESL students. Chapter 7, Refugee students’ perceptions of curriculum differentiation, uses qualitative case study methods that “…compares one school’s transitional bilingual program with a second school’s English as a Second Language supported mainstreaming program” (137). This example of case study research uses observation, participation, and interview techniques. The research was conducted over a one-year academic period. This example follows the basic model of case study research. Examples of how participant responses were incorporated into the written report. Furthermore, this study attempts to analyze an issue and clarify persistent contradictions in education.
Stake, R. The art of case study. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997.
Summary: In this book, Stake gives his approach to qualitative inquiry. He gives practical tips and examples for case study research. This book is useful for novice researchers interested in case study methods. This book explains how one should identify the research question, the nature of research, data gathering, analysis and interpretation. Other chapters include information on the researcher’s role, triangulation, writing the report.
The Art of case study is “geared towards case studies that would need a few weeks of field work and an additional few months for planning, management, analysis, and writing” (xiii). Finally, this text includes examples of successfully employed case study research.
Yin, R. Case study research: Design and methods (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.
Summary: This book concentrates heavily on the design and analysis of case study research. It deals with more difficult questions surround case study “…(a) how to define the case being studied, (b) how to determine the relevant data to be collected, or (c) what should be done with the data once collected” (2). Various chapters in this book cover distinctive characteristics of qualitative case study research methods.
Compiled by: Kathleen Klompien, Nicole Munday and Mary Verbout |