This week's theme was the final one, Qualitative and case study research. The qualitative part was again a big part of the research on methods we did for the bachelor's thesis, so I did not really have any problems understanding the concept of qualitative studies. However, I did get some new knowledge during the seminar this time, especially in relation to case studies which is a form of qualitative research.
This brings us to the paper that I chose for this week's assignments. Luckily I found one that actually fit both parts of the assignment as it was a case study. The first thing I reacted to was how large the pilot study actually was. The case study only had nine participants, and the pilot study had five, more than half of the actual study! Naturally, the results of the pilot study was not used in the research, but was only used to give the final shape of the case study. I had no idea that the pre-work, or the pilot study part of qualitative research (perhaps all research?) was such a large part of it. During the seminar, Ilias explained that this is not uncommon but rather the norm when it comes to qualitative research - something that I did not know before.
He also had a form of a mini lecture on the differences between case studies and regular qualitative research. During that lecture, I learned that case studies are usually used for spawning new theories, or coming up with a research question, while qualitative research usually tends to confirm or add to an already existing theory.
I also learned a few things about some qualitative methods, especially interviews. Something that I had not really thought about before was how much information an interviewer is able to gather from an interviewee just by observing the way that they answer a question and not just by reading the answer. To be able to see their face and hear their voice gives a much deeper understanding to the answers, and also gives the interviewer the chance to steer and customize the interview in a semi-structured interview. In a semi-structured interview, this is great as you normally do not prepare as much since the interview is more free-flowing and gives the interviewer a lot more freedom in which questions he or she asks.
This is a common aspect of qualitative research as well, being able to customize the research method. I have learned that qualitative methods are really flexible. The researcher can design the methods almost any way they want, as long as they can motivate the form of their method. Otherwise, the research may not be taken seriously.
This brings us to the paper that I chose for this week's assignments. Luckily I found one that actually fit both parts of the assignment as it was a case study. The first thing I reacted to was how large the pilot study actually was. The case study only had nine participants, and the pilot study had five, more than half of the actual study! Naturally, the results of the pilot study was not used in the research, but was only used to give the final shape of the case study. I had no idea that the pre-work, or the pilot study part of qualitative research (perhaps all research?) was such a large part of it. During the seminar, Ilias explained that this is not uncommon but rather the norm when it comes to qualitative research - something that I did not know before.
He also had a form of a mini lecture on the differences between case studies and regular qualitative research. During that lecture, I learned that case studies are usually used for spawning new theories, or coming up with a research question, while qualitative research usually tends to confirm or add to an already existing theory.
I also learned a few things about some qualitative methods, especially interviews. Something that I had not really thought about before was how much information an interviewer is able to gather from an interviewee just by observing the way that they answer a question and not just by reading the answer. To be able to see their face and hear their voice gives a much deeper understanding to the answers, and also gives the interviewer the chance to steer and customize the interview in a semi-structured interview. In a semi-structured interview, this is great as you normally do not prepare as much since the interview is more free-flowing and gives the interviewer a lot more freedom in which questions he or she asks.
This is a common aspect of qualitative research as well, being able to customize the research method. I have learned that qualitative methods are really flexible. The researcher can design the methods almost any way they want, as long as they can motivate the form of their method. Otherwise, the research may not be taken seriously.
Hello!
SvaraRaderaThanks for sharing your thoughts.
I think you miss a really important part of case studies: it does not need to be a qualitative study; it’s not uncommon that combined methods (both qualitative and quantitative data) are used within case studies. For example in my selected case study “Who's Watching Whom?” the researcher collected numeric data from observations but also data from interviews, therefore he used a combination of qualitative and quantitative method. As you wrote case studies are theory building, the flexible form to combine different methods and the iterative process is a main key to generate these new theories. Also in comparison with qualitative studies a case study is not hypothesis-testing it usually begins with data collection and than observations.
Anyway good job with all your blog post, it has been enlightening to follow your thoughts throughout the course. Well done!
Hi! Thanks for your interesting reflection!
SvaraRaderaTo elaborate on the aims of a case study, except from testing theory and then coming up with new ones. A case study is also often used to explore a field that is not well known, so it's common to use a case study as the first step of a research process and use those findings or somebody else can use the results for further research.
All in all, it seems that you have a good understanding of the methods. Good work!
You have summarized your reflection very nicely. I was not so familiar with case studies either. A case study is not a research method in itself. In a case study you can combine different methods and from that case or cases build a theory. The conclusion is hopefully a conceptual framework/concept. It can also just be replacement of an existing theory. And as you said the motivation of choosing a method is quite important. I think it is quite fundamental to have a good motivation to all the parts that you have been selected in a research.
SvaraRaderaHey there :) You have made some good points!
SvaraRaderaI agree with everything you mention when discussing the qualitative research methods and would add that it all combined is exactly what it makes it subjective - "being able to customize the research method". I like how you imply on the way the researcher focuses on gathering verbal data which later interprets by following his own pattern. However, I would point that as the weak link in those types of studies since the subjectivity can be misleading thus hard to test a hypothesis with.
Hello and thank you for your thoughts on qualitative and case study research. You summed it up really nicely and reflected on what you learned. I think I just understood one thing different that mentioned in the very beginning. Especially after the discussion, I was of the opinion that not case studies are a form of qualitative research, but more qualitative research can be a form of case studies. Since case studies can also include some kind of quantitative studies, I think both of them are not directly comparable. They are on different levels. But that’s just how I understood it.
SvaraRaderaI thought it was interesting that you brought up the observation of facial expressions and tones of voice when conducting interviews. This was not something I had considered when thinking about interview as a qualitative method. I thought of interviews being valuable solely in terms of the answers given without any other contexts. This reminded me of the case-study article and how it was mentioned many times that case study research collects a staggering amount of data and it can be difficult to narrow down this evidence at the risk of overly-complex theory. I wonder if this is because many case studies use qualitative data where such observations like facial expression, mood, and tone of voice can be used as empirical evidence on top of interview answers. Especially when qualitative and quantitative research is used, I can imagine that a very large amount of data would be collected.
SvaraRadera