Transcript Case study research - Researcher Education Programme

Case study research
What is a “case study”
• A detailed study of a particular instance of
a phenomenon. Any phenomenon
• Focusing on one or more aspects of the
phenomenon, but bounded.
• Aspects can be broken down into units of
analysis.
• Usually thought of as being in the
qualitative paradigm – but they can and do
use quantitative methods to collect data.
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Why do case studies?
• Describe a real life situation
• Explaining why something is the way it is
in a given context
• Evaluating an intervention.
• Tend to generate a great deal of data
• Well written studies are often engaging
and have strong persuasive power.
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Why NOT do case studies
• Sometimes seen (typically by positivists)
as not having adequate explanatory
power.
• Can be very difficult to get access to the
case you want to study.
• Can involve complex ethical issues
• Data collection can be time consuming,
and often, expensive.
• Data analysis is a major challenge.
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Features of case study
• Generalise to theory, not to population
– Construct validity
– Internal validity
– External validity
– Reliability
• Designs
– Single/multiple
– Holistic/embedded
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A case to study?
Daily Lunch Programme for
Vulnerable Schoolchildren in
Albania (2004-5)
$3.2 million was given to improve child
nutrition, and improve health and nutrition
awareness in economically depressed
regions of Albania
http://www.mercyusa.org/pp_albania.cfm
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Albanian lunch program study
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What type of case study would this be?
What phenomenon is being investigated?
What are the boundaries of this case
What are the aspects of the case?
What units of analysis could we look at?
Would other research methods be more
appropriate?
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Case study tools
• The protocol
– Overview of the
project
– Field procedures
– Case study questions
– “data shells”
– A guide for the final
report
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• The database
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Case study notes
Case study documents
Tabular material
narratives
Some (real) case study topics
• Drug selling and licit income in distressed
neighbourhoods (Fagan, 1992)
• Participation in playground activities (Boulton,
1992)
• Coping with computers (Blease & Cohen 1990)
• Sport, the media and the construction of
compulsory heterosexuality: A case study of
women's rugby union (Wright & Clarke, 1999)
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Pros and cons
• Results often
accessible to wide
audience
• Show up unique
features that (e.g.
surveys) can hide
• Strong on reality
• Very flexible – they
can cope with
unexpected events
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• Not easy to
generalise
• Not easily replicable
• Prone to observer
bias and can be
selective and
subjective.
• Unexpected ethical
issues can surface.
References
Blease & Cohen (1990) Coping with computers: An ethnographic study in
primary classrooms. London, Paul Chapman Publishing.
Boulton, M. J. (1992) Participation in playground activities at middle school.
Education research, 34 (3) 167-182
Fagin, Jeffrey ( 1992) Drug selling and licit income in severely distressed
neighbourhoods: The economic lives of street level drug users and dealers.
In Harrel & Peterson (1992) Drugs, Crime and Social Isolation. –
Washington D.C. Urban Institute Press, p 99ff
Wright, Jan & Clarke, Gill, (1999) Sport, the media and the construction of
compulsory heterosexuality: A case study of women's rugby union. –
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 34 (3) 227-243
Yin, Robert (2009) Case Study Research: Design & Methods. 4th ed. – London,
Sage, 2009
Image credits
Slide 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blargady/5152411635/sizes/z/ by TheBigLife
Slide 3
PowerPoint Clip art
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