Postreflection theme 6
This weeks theme was mainly about case studies. In the seminar we discussed what a case study is and I think that I understand what it is, but still it's difficult to say if a research article is a case study or not. I think that's because it is not just "a case study" and "not a case study", there's something in between.
One thing is clear, you need to have a specific frame, both for you target group and the topic that you are examine. And it has to be a naturally made frame, not a boundary that you've made up for the sake of the research.
The paper that i read for the pre reflection was a case study about how bootlegging has affected the music industry. And now after the seminar I think it was a pretty poor case study since it was more a description about the case and didn't make any effort in trying to be theory-generating. And it only contained one type of method (qualitative semi structured interviews). As I understand it a case study should (or atleast it's common that it) contains more than one method.
The qualitative research paper that I read sound more like a case study to me. It had a fixed target group (20-28 years ICT users with symptoms of psychological disorders) and the case was about how they believe they are affected by ICT use. And they combined both a quantitative study (that was conducted before this article was started) to select the participants and the qualitative study (interviews). But its a fine margin what a case study is and what a case study is not.
Hi, Eric! I have read your post and I have few questions. Firstly, the case study is a very complex and interesting method, do you think is it real to take this volume of method for one researcher?
SvaraRaderaAnd secondly, if you have the opportunity which kind of case from life you would take in order to investigate?
Hi Eric!
SvaraRaderaI totally agree that it sometimes is hard to say whether a researcher is using a case study or not. Often it feels like researchers are constructing the frames for the study just for the studys sake. In practice, perhaps the space between what a case study is and what a case study is not really strict but rather floating. However, this often makes it hard to know when someone is conducting a case study or a qualitative/quantitative study. Goob work!