Order Description
My research is the transition for combat soldiers out of the military
Things to ponder as you read about case study research in this module: what is a case? what are intrinsic case studies and how do they differ from instrumental case studies? Which will you choose for your own research? what are the main characteristics of case study? what are the historical origins of case study research? what is its purpose? why is it an important for of research? what are some of the criticisms of case study research, and how have researchers attempted to respond to them?
Module 1: Case study as a mode of inquiry
Readings: Yin (2014), Chapter 1; Stake (2006), Chapter 1; Tellis (1997); optional, consult relevant chapters in Creswell (2012), Denzin & Lincoln (2013), Hays & Singh (2011), or Wertz, Charmaz, et al. (2011) depending on which texts you have already.
Qualitative methods are used when very little is known about a human phenomenon, or when the existing knowledge about a phenomenon needs revising. The purpose of qualitative research is to develop theory within a particular field, such as psychology, in order to guide knowledge in that field; or to amend or add to knowledge already in existence in that field. It does so through a process of documenting, describing, identifying patterns and concepts, identifying the relationship between concepts, and creating theoretical explanations that explain reality. That being said, not all qualitative research may have the development of theory as the end product. Some qualitative methods seek to identify and describe the essence of a human lived experience, others move beyond description to explain features of social patterns, and still others aim to interpret historical data. Each method attempts to answer different questions, uses distinct methods, and produces results that provide different perspectives on the same human phenomena.
Qualitative research is inductive research, which means it isn?t based on reasoning deduced from an already established theory. Qualitative research isn?t based on a conceptual framework, and it isn?t aimed at testing a hypothesis. Instead, the qualitative researcher has discovered an interesting topic, in an area not studied well by other researchers, and he /she is eager to explore the topic further, and in depth, in order to learn all about it. Thus, qualitative researcher plays a valuable role in knowledge development, and from this, theory production. The produced theory may then be applied in a clinical setting, it may be used to further research in a particular field, or to revise clinical practices in existence already. In addition, it may be used as the conceptual framework for a quantitative study, as the basis for the development of a psychometric instrument, or it may be triangulated with quantitative findings to provide an explanation for unanticipated quantitative results.
How does case study fit under the umbrella of qualitative research? It is a research method that developed out of the field of clinical medicine, which has had a practice of gathering a patient?s personal histories, a.k.a. their case histories. Case histories typically have been descriptive in nature, although newer research is now trying to do more than simply describe a medical phenomenon, but to explain it (moving from descriptive research to explanatory).
Case study research is ideographic, which means it is interested in highlighting the unique elements of a case, as opposed to being nomothetic, which would mean it would be interested in coming to general (law-like) statements about a phenomena. Ideographic studies focus on an individual case without referencing it to a comparison group.
Case study is not, on its own, a research method, but it is a qualitative approach that allows researchers to choose their preferred methods of data collection and analysis in order to generate the information they need to answer their research question(s). Case study researchers can gather data using qualitative techniques such as semi-structured interviews, participant observation, diaries, or from sources such as personal letters or photographs or notes, or official documents such as case notes or clinical notes. Case study researchers can analyze their data using different theories such as grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, text interpretation/thematic coding.
