Theme 6, Blog Post 2: Qualitative and Case Study Research
The seminar clarified a few
things for me about case studies. We talked about them as a research strategy
usually employed when exploring a novel and unknown phenomenon that a
researcher wants to shed light on. And because the researcher himself/herself
is not familiar with that phenomenon, in the beginning of the case study,
he/she does not propose a specific hypothesis or research question, which I
think is good, because it carries a risk of drifting too much towards one
aspect and missing out on other important details, thus, limiting the study –
particularly bad if you are unfamiliar with the phenomenon, as you can get very
lost. The hypothesis comes along later, when the researcher has gathered a sufficient
amount of data to inform the formulation of a narrower research question.
We also discussed cases
studies as a research method that uses other research methods – qualitative,
quantitative or both, depending on their ability to generate relevant results –
which I think is a very good point to remember; and as a research strategy
characterized by an overlap between the research data and the data-gathering
process, which contributes to a high degree of flexibility. I thought this last
bit was interesting and it kind of brought me back to design research where as
strong overlap exists between data collection, the data itself and the design
proposal/product and how the latter sort of embodies the research data and
makes it tangible, but also how the researcher can constantly change the design
proposal and improve it.
I am glad that, in the
seminar, we noted that a research paper that contains the words “case study”
might not necessarily be a case study, because after reading the case study on
the Pokémon craze in the early 2000s I had chosen, I started to have doubts
about whether it was actually a case study. The paper contains some analysis of
different elements of the phenomenon – films, TV series, toys, cards, etc – from
a business and pedagogical perspective, but is not really supported by any
existing theories or concepts, other than consumer/producer activity described
in terms of the opposition between structure and agency. In that sense, I did
not find it informative or convincing enough to appear in a reputable academic
journal.
Hanna Hasselqvist’s research that we became familiar with during the
lecture, I think, is a very good example of how different methods can be
employed when doing in-depth research into a small number of cases –
interviews, questionnaires with open questions, GPS data from mobile apps,
observation and the car-trips card. The part I found most impressive, however,
was that the research team did not limit itself to just studying these 3
families, but also took their findings to companies and politicians to actually
make an attempt for a real, tangible difference for everyone.
Nice summary of what you learned during this theme! It seems like you really grasped the concept, and you successfully communicated it through your post.
ReplyDeleteYour notes on how researchers aren't familiar with the phenomenons they are studying were interesting (even if I do believe that most researcher tend to study fields that they are indeed familiar with, due to interests). I too believe that hypothesises in general may pose some threats to the reliability of results; if one has already visualised what the results will be, it is more likely that evidence will appear to prove that idea. I hence agree with you and your seemingly positive take on the fact that hypotheses in case study research comes along first later in the process! With more data, research questions and hypotheses can be more relevant and narrow, which is a prerequisite for case studies and their specific character.
The way you linked how case studies is often used when exploring topics that is unfamiliar to the researcher and how it relates to the formulation of a hypothesis was interesting. I wrote about it myself, but did not connect it the process of defining the research question. I like the way you connect and compare this theme with the previous one, design research. What I found to be of particular interest about your post was the paragraph about you discovering that the chosen paper was not a case study. You write that it lacks a theoretical framework – but is the lack really what determines that it is not a case study, or does is it just make it bad research? What do you think the researchers aims was with conducting the study? I would have liked to read more about your thoughts on the topic. Ilias gave me the advice during the seminar, to simply look for the word ”case study” in a research paper, when being uncertain if the strategy was used.
ReplyDeleteHello! Thanks for a great summary about seminar and lecture. I also liked the lecture as it gave a real example of a case study. I had the same problem of finding out whether one or another research is a case study or not even if authors but "case study" on their article title. Moreover, I think that Hanna's example was really good for showing how case study can work out in a reality. I mean the fact that she talked with politicians and designers about the possibilities to implement an idea of car-free society. This is a real proof that case studies are capable of producing prototypes of the theories and ideas.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! When I was looking for the case study paper example, I came across a few that contained this words combination but, briefly looking through the summary and conclusions, I had a feeling that they were more about quantitative research as the data was not limited to the certain phenomena. Your point about the wrong names for some researches explained a lot and "justified" my doubts.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the hypothesis developed in the process of research, I think that the researcher, probably, at the beginning would cogitate about or make a draft with a number of possible scenarios to decide which methods could be employed to explore all the aspects of the phenomena. But with the beginning of the study that framework must be abandoned to eliminate the bias. At least, listening to the car-free research presentation, I had a feeling that it was really circumspect research!
You've written an interesting reflection, and it seems you've got a good understanding of this week's theme! Good job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that case study can be very useful when exploring an area the researcher might not be too familiar with, or where there's not a lot of previous research done. However I do think that most researchers study subjects where they have some original experience due to interest, but a case study would be a good way to see it from a new angle, or study a specific part.
I think it can be a benefit to start out without a hypotheses in some cases, as it can cause some threats to the reliability of the results. If the researcher starts off by visualizing what the result will be, I have to wonder if he/she will be affected by that throughout the research. The researcher might see evidence that agree with the original hypotheses, and have a harder time taking in new (and maybe contradicting) information.
That you don't formulate a hypothesis initially I agree with, but I don't think this is necessarily true regarding a research question. In my understanding, research question is formulated in the beginning of a case study and important to give the research focus. Now, you do have a good point in that narrowing it down too much would risk losing out on potential findings. Either way I found it refreshing to read another perspective on this. I also think you highlighted well the risk with crappy researchers mislabeling their work - to be critical regarding sources remains important also when reading research.
ReplyDeleteLastly, the small sample size not necessarily being a limitation a case study was explained by you at the end. This was a nice way to end your post, mentioning how research in the form of a case study can (and did) make a difference.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI agree that a case study is hypothesis building rather then hypothesis-testing, however I don’t agree that the reason for not testing hypothesis is because of lack of the researchers familiarity with the phenomenon. It’s true that case studies are appropriate for new topics area. However to build theory is central to shape hypothesis throughout the process and not before the data collection. It’s always the research question that determines the method. So the first step to get started with a research is to define a research question which will guide you where and what to focus and if a case study fits your research question. Anyway thanks for sharing some interesting thoughts!
Hi! First of all, I can share the feeling of doubting the article one has chosen, since I had similar difficulties myself during this course. However, I think that is just proof of progress and development in our thinking! Although I'm not sure if I agree entirely about the lack of existing theories and concepts being enough reason for the study not to be a case study – in some cases the phenomenon is so new, that there aren't enough existing theory to build on. That's when the theory building case study steps into the picture, as we discussed on the lecture. But I do get your point: no matter what the case or study one should always present the findings in a decent academic structure and using the scientific terminology, not just some random observations made up by the "researcher". Also, I'm sure that in the early 2000s there was surely a lot of existing research on children behavior on game environment and media context in general! I could conclude this by saying that despite the complex nature and interactive-like nature of a case study, it doesn't give the researcher any more freedoms regarding methods or presentation style than in other approaches. Even a case study has to be comparable with other researches.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your writing as it's always well-reasoned and easy to follow! Thanks!