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3) WHAT IS A CASE STUDY?

Miles and Huberman (1994)

to qualify as a case study, you have to state the boundary or delimit what you want to study - limit the number of people you intend to interview, you have to limit the amount of time you intend to spend.
“If there is no end, actually or theoretically, to the number of people who could be interviewed or to observations that could be conducted, then the phenomenon is not bounded enough to qualify as a case (Merriam, 1998, p.28).

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an “instance drawn from a class” (Adelman, Jenkins & Kemmis,1983) or “action” (MacDonald & Walker,1977)
Instance could be an individual child in the classroom, a classroom of preschool children, a low achieving high school or a specific remedial programme in reading
study in depth because it is intrinsically interesting, to get a full understanding of the phenomenon, uncover the distinct characteristics of the phenomenon
Yin (1994) - most appropriate in situations in which it is impossible to separate the phenomenon studied from its context (i.e. the child’s behaviour in relation to other children in the playground).

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Characteristics of case study method �used in qualitative research (Merriam, 1998),

Particularistic – focus on a particular individual, group, event, programme or phenomenon.
Descriptive – a case study can illustrate the complexities of a situation, influence of people, and influence of time on the phenomenon.
Heuristic – a case can explain the reasons for a problem or issue (i.e. what happened and why).

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Table 1: Summary of Moustakas’ Core Processes of

Heuristic Inquiry (Moustakas, 1990, p. 15-27)*

� Identify with the focus of the inquiry�The heuristic process involves getting inside the research question, becoming one with it, living it.� Self dialogue�Self dialogue is the critical beginning, allowing the phenomenon to speak directly to one's own experience.� Tacit knowing�In addition to knowledge that we can make explicit, there is knowledge that is implicit to our actions and experiences. This tacit dimension is ineffable and unspecifiable, it underlies and precedes intuition and can guide the researcher into untapped directions and sources of meaning.� Intuition�Intuition provides the bridge between explicit and tacit knowledge. Intuition makes possible the seeing of things as wholes. Every act of achieving integration, unity or wholeness requires intuition.� Indwelling�This refers to the conscious and deliberate process of turning inward to seek a deeper, more extended comprehension of a quality or theme of human experience. Indwelling involves a willingness to gaze with unwavering attention and concentration into some aspect of human experience.� Focussing�Focussing is inner attention, a staying with, a sustained process of systematically contacting the central meanings of an experience. It enables one to see something as it is and to make whatever shifts are necessary to make contact with necessary awareness and insight.� Internal frame of reference�The outcome of the heuristic process in terms of knowledge and experience must be placed in the context of the experiencer's own internal frame of reference, and not some external frame

http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/HIpaper.htm�

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Merriam (1988) defines ‘a qualitative case study as an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon, or social unit (p. 21).

The case study can be:

Descriptive qualitative case study
Interpretive qualitative case study
Evaluative qualitative case study

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Types of qualitative case study

Case studies can be either

a single-case design or
a multiple-case design.

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Reasons for Single-Case Designs:

critical case
extreme or unique case
revelatory case

Reasons for Multiple- Case Designs

Holistic vs embedded case studies:

holistic – unit of analysis

embedded – more than one unit of analysis (sub-units) within a single case

clh/suc/quali2/2010

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Basic types of case studies design

According to Yin (1994)

single-case designs multiple-case designs

clh/suc/quali2/2010

TYPE 1

TYPE 3

TYPE 2

TYPE 4

holistic

(single unit

of analysis)

embedded

(multiple units

of analysis

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TECHNIQUES FOR GATHERING DATA

The following are some types of data collection techniques employed in case studies (Stake, 1995 and Yin, 1994):
Interviews: - Closed or Structured Interviews and Open-Ended Interviews. .
Observations: direct observation of events and behaviours as well as participant-observation
Documents: These could be letters, memos, agendas, administrative documents, newspaper articles and any other relevant documents.
Physical Artefacts: These are objects collected from the setting which could be products made by students and other individuals, the objects used such as tools or instruments.

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STEPS IN USING THE CASE STUDY METHOD

Yin (1994) identified the following steps in conducting any case study.

1) the research questions which most likely to be “how” and “why” questions.

2) the unit of analysis which could be an individual, a group of individuals, or an organisation.

3) linking the data collected with the research questions.

4) the interpretation of findings. A useful technique is “pattern-matching’ where data collected from the case may be related to some theoretical proposition (Campbell, 1975).

(See Figure 5.2 and the 6 steps in pg 6-10 by Tellis, 1997)

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Step2: Select the Cases and determine Data Gathering and Analysis techniques

Step 3: Prepare to Collect the Data

Step 4: Collect Data in the Field

Step 5: Evaluate and Analyze the Data

Step 5: Prepare the Report

�

Step 1:Determine and Define the Research Questions

Figure 5.2 Steps in Using the Case Study Method

[source: Tellis, W. 1997.

Application of a case study methodology. The Qualitative Report,

Volume 3, Number 3]

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4) GENERIC QUALITATIVE RESEARCH �

Thorne (1997) used the term “noncategorical qualitative research”; Sandelowski (2000) “fundamental qualitative method”; Merriam (1998) “generic qualitative method”; “basic interpretative qualitative study (2002).
generic qualitative method is a method that “simply seeks to discover and understand a phenomenon, a process or the perspectives and worldviews of the people involved” (Merriam, 1998. p.11).
does not have a guiding set of philosophic assumptions in the form of one established qualitative methodology.
exhibits some or all of the characteristics of other methodologies or approaches but makes no claim to any particular qualitative method.
will use the techniques of ethnography, the case study method, grounded theory and the techniques of action research, but does not claim it is either ethnography, case study, grounded theory or action research

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Why Generic Qualitative method?

Quite common and popular
Save time
Addressed the needs in applied disciplines
Less demanding option
Conflicting arguments about the qualitative approach or methodology

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GUIDELINES FOR THE GENERIC QUALITATIVE METHOD? �

may incorporate many of the elements of ethnography, action research and the case study, but cannot be considered to belong purely to any of these qualitative methods.
focus is on the identification of patterns and categories with the aim of describing phenomena.
Besides description, the data is interpreted to explain phenomena but not with the intention of building or developing theory.
techniques that may be employed in a Generic Qualitative Method depending on the objectives of the study.

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��CHECKLIST FOR THE GENERIC QUALITATIVE METHOD [an adaptation of the Checklist by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (2009, & Spencer, Ritchie, Lewis and Dillon, 2003] �

1. Are you convinced that a qualitative approach is appropriate?

2. Are you clear as to what your study seeks to do?

3. How defensible or rigorous is your research design or methodology?

4. How well was the data collection carried out?

5. Is the role of the researcher clearly described?

6. Did you clearly described the context?

7. Were the methods reliable?

8. Is the data analysis sufficiently rigorous?

9. Are the data “rich”?

10. Is the analysis reliable?

11. Are the findings convincing?

12. Are the findings relevant to the aims of the study?

13. Are the conclusion adequate?

14. How clear and coherent is the reporting of ethical

consideration

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ETHICAL GUIDELINES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

WHY IS RESEARCH ETHICS IMPORTANT IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?

WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH ETHICS PRINCIPLES?

THREE core principles, originally articulated in National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioural Research., The Belmont Report (1979) form the universally accepted basis for research ethics.

- Respect for persons

- Beneficence

- Justice

- respect for communities (Weijer, Goldsand & Emanuel, 1999).

WHAT IS INFORMED CONSENT?

HOW DO WE ACHIEVE INFORMED CONSENT FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

ARE THE CONCLUSION ADEQUATE?

HOW CLEAR AND COHERENT IS THE REPORTING OF ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS?

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Concluding remarks

All qualitative research methods share some common characteristics
But different qualitative methods differ in terms of form and purpose

Design of qualitative study

- framing of research problem/questions (from general to

specific)

- selection of sample (information-rich cases, access)

- collection of data (interviews, observations and documents –

transcripts, photos, videos, field notes, journals, diary, log )

- analysis of data (simultaneously with data collection,

different strategies depending on research design e.g.

constant comparative method, narrative analysis, organising

scheme/typology/framework for

concepts/themes/categories/patterns

- validity and reliability – triangulation

- ethics in research – informed consent

- writing up (no standard format)

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