1. Educational Research:
Case Study Methodology
ADES 1004
Researching Literacies and Learning

2. case study
…examines the characteristics of a
particular entity, phenomenon, or
person
 Select a unit of analysis - singularity

3.  Is useful for describing or answering
questions about particular, localized
occurrences or contexts
AND / OR
 the perspectives of a participant group
toward events, beliefs, or practices

4.  Illuminates the “invisibility of everyday life”
…by making the familiar strange, more
examined, and better understood

5. Types of Cases
 The critical case – You already have a theory (hypothesis) and the
case with prove or disprove it
 The extreme case – the elements you are looking for a
pronounced and highlight the concept / hypothesis
 The exemplifying case – the elements are broadly showing a
theory
 The longitudinal case – data over time sheds light on development
of the concept

6. Case Study – Your first questions
 What is your Unit of Analysis?
“ A single ..................”
Family
Behaviour
Location
Perception
Community
Attitudes
Person
Beliefs
Organisation
Knowledge
Processes
Language
 What is shown by the case…?

7. What are you doing – the
researcher?
Descriptive phase: Its construction
relies heavily on “thick” verbal
descriptions of a particular social
context being studied
Analysis phase: Its meaning relies on
your interpretations and thematic logic

8. …employ expressive language and
voice in descriptions and explanations
…judged in terms of believability,
trustworthiness, coherence, and the
logic underlying researcher’s
interpretations

9. Participant Observation Cases

10. • Issues in primary qualitative
research...
a. gaining entry
b. contacting potential research
participants
c. being prepared
d. capturing all data in the moment

11. a. gaining entry...
access is dependent upon the
researcher’s personal and professional
characteristics and how others perceive
the researcher
may require considerable negotiation
with a gatekeeper – a friend or
acquaintance
trust is earned, not given

12. b. contacting participants...
• Have the consent form with synopsis
ready
build trust and ensure confidentiality
Do what you say you will - reliability

13. c. be prepared
Preparation includes:
The Rationale / Validity Table (see class
notes)
Consent forms
Observation sheet
Thank You Letter

14. The threats to validity in qualitative
studies...
Observer Effect
…the impact of the observer’s
participation on the setting or the
participants being studied

15. the researcher records descriptive
as well as reflective notes about
what one has seen, heard,
experienced, and thought about a
during an observation session
Teacher_Observation_Checklist

16.  regarding field notes…
notes
…put aside assumptions,
experience context first
…see phenomena
through participants’
perspective
…write up notes
immediately following
an observation

17. Text Based Cases

18. Selecting the case
the goal is to get the deepest
possible understanding of the
setting being studied
Photos, descriptions, memos,
field notes, videos, narratives
from others

19. Collecting data... KEEP IT ALL
TOGETHER
observations – field notes about
other people’s primary data
(video or document)
official documents – govt.
photographs, recordings, emails
media reports – different sources
informal conversations - memos

20. Themes
 As you collect data, categorise it around your objectives,
themes, sub-categories
 Have some decided already
 But leave other so they can emerge

21. The threats to validity in qualitative
studies...
observer bias…
bias
…invalid information resulting from the
perspective the researcher brings to
the study and imposes upon it
Question: what are your biases
regarding your topic?

22. Gathering and Theme-ing data
…detail is critical: topic theme on
every note; leave wide margins
for writing impressions; use only
one side of a page of paper; draw
diagram of site (if necessary)
…list key words first, then outline
one’s observations

23. …keep the descriptive (context) and
reflective (analysis) sections separate
in your note book
…use memos to record
hunches, questions, and
insights after each
observation – group these
later

24. Analyzing data…
data pieces
data categories
data patterns

25. classifying the data, including
categorization, coding, and
grouping into thematic units
interpreting and synthesizing the
organized data into general
conclusions or understandings

26. • Checking for Validity
a. credibility or plausibility
b. transferability
c. including a methods section

27.  credibility
or plausibility
…to demonstrate that the study was
conducted in such a manner as to
ensure that the subject was
accurately identified and
described

28.  transferability
…to demonstrate that the results of
the study are generalizable to
others in the original research
context or to contexts beyond the
original study

29.  including a methods section
…to provide an in-depth description
of the processes and methods
used in the study

30. • Strategies for analyzing qualitative
data...
a. constant comparison method
b. negative case and discrepant data
methods
c. analytic induction

31.  constant comparison method
…compares new evidence to prior
evidence to identify similarities
and differences between
observations

32.  negative case and discrepant data
methods
…the search for contradictory,
variant, or disconfirming data
within the body of data collected
that provides an alternative
perspective on an emerging
category or pattern

33.  analytic induction
…a process concerned with
developing and testing a theory in
order to generalize a study’s
findings

34. 5. Writing the research report...
Describe the setting where the data
were collected
Identify characters of focus
describe the social action in which
the characters are engaged
offer an interpretation of what
the social action means to the
characters