10.4+Case+Studies

= 10.4 Case Studies = Learning Outcomes
 * Evaluate the use of case studies in research
 * Explain how a case study could be used to investigate a problem in an organization or group
 * Discuss the extent to which findings can be generalized from a single case study
 * 1) Use of case studies in research
 * 2) Case study- an in-depth investigation of human experience
 * 3) Can be one person, a family, a social group, an event or an organization
 * 4) A case study can be a single case study, or multiple case studies where a series of cases are compared
 * 5) Takes place in the participants’ natural environment
 * 6) It is important to specify the context in which the case is explored
 * 7) When a researcher has found a case to study, he or she must decide on the participants and how to collect the data
 * 8) Often include a certain amount of triangulation
 * 9) Conclusions based on multiple sources are considered to be trustworthy and accurate
 * 10) Not a research method itself but rather a research strategy
 * 11) Examples
 * 12) semi-structured interviews
 * 13) participant observation
 * 14) diaries
 * 15) personal notes (letters, photographs, notes)
 * 16) official documents (case notes, clinical notes, appraisal reports)
 * 17) questionnaires
 * 18) Intrinsic case study- represent nothing but themselves and are interesting in their own right
 * 19) The researcher wants to gain insight into one particular phenomenon by studying that case
 * 20) Instrumental case studies – represent more general phenomena of general interest
 * 21) Such as losing a child, being homeless, or being diagnosed with cancer
 * 22) Descriptive case studies – purpose is to general a detailed description of a phenomenon
 * 23) It is believed that the description will generate newfound knowledge
 * 24) The findings of the descriptive case study are not analyzed in terms of existing theory
 * 25) Explanatory case studies – aim is to describe and find possible explanations for the phenomenon under investigation
 * 26) Theoretical analysis based on existing theory or generation of new theory based on the data (e.g. grounded theory)
 * 27) Rich data – data which are open to a number of interpretations
 * 28) Because they are complex, it is believed that using different perspectives will result in such data and a better all around understanding of the situation
 * 29) Strengths of the case study method
 * 30) Opportunity to investigate phenomena that could not be studied otherwise
 * 31) Gives researchers the possibility to investigate cases which could not be set up in research laboratories
 * 32) Permits insight into social processes in a group
 * 33) Offers the possibility to study such processes using different methods
 * 34) Examples:
 * 35) looking into a group culture
 * 36) communication patterns
 * 37) beliefs
 * 38) attributions
 * 39) influence on behavior and decisions
 * 40) Stimulates new research
 * 41) The case can highlight phenomena which need further investigation
 * 42) Example: case study of people with brain damage has sparked off research in memory processes and biological correlates of memory using animal research to test theories
 * 43) Contradicts established theory and helps to develop new theories
 * 44) Case studies have sometimes contracted established psychological theories.
 * 45) Limitations of the case study method
 * 46) Difficulty to define a case study
 * 47) It can be difficult to determine whether a series of related studies constitute a case study or if they are just a collection of studies dealing with the same question
 * 48) Researcher bias
 * 49) Researcher’s own subjective feelings may influence the study
 * 50) Researcher’s own beliefs can influence the way the data are collected and analyzed but this could be controlled via reflexivity and strategies to achieve trustworthiness
 * 51) Memory distortions and effects of social desirability
 * 52) Qualitative data depend to a large extent on people’s cognitions
 * 53) Reliance on memory when reconstructing case history could lead to distortion
 * 54) Participants in the case study may change their accounts in order to appear more socially acceptable
 * 55) Ethical aspects of the case study method
 * 56) A small number of participants can be identified in the research report – researchers must be careful and do their best to anonymize the participants
 * 57) In case study research, there is often a requirement that there is active involvement of the participants especially when they are asked to participate in interviews or write about their experiences
 * 58) Time consuming and involves self-reflection
 * 59) May affect the participants negatively in that they may have to deal with painful memories and emotions
 * 60) Researcher is held responsible for the consequences that the research process has on the participants and must deal with this in ethical ways
 * 61) The extent to which findings can be generalized to a single case study
 * 62) It has been argued by researchers within the quantitative tradition that a case study cannot be of any value outside the case
 * 63) It cannot be replicated
 * 64) It cannot be used for prediction
 * 65) The results cannot be generalized
 * 66) Qualitative researchers argue that a case study has value outside the case
 * 67) There is controversy and disagreements in how generalization can be made
 * 68) A single case study, normally used as a small sample, that has been purposely selected so that it is not statistically representative
 * 69) makes it difficult to generalize findings to other populations
 * 70) If evidence from other case studies confirms the findings, it is argued that it is possible to generalize to other people who are similar to those in the case study
 * 71) Inferential generalization – the findings of a single case study can be made applicable to similar settings if the researcher has provided a “rich-thick description” of the phenomenon in context
 * 72) Also known as transferability
 * 73) According to Yin (1994), the results of single case studies can be generalized to existing theory but not to populations
 * 74) Theoretical generalization
 * 75) If the patterns found in a single case study can be found in multiple case studies, that is, they can replicate the pattern found in the single case study, the theory derived from the single case study gains in robustness.