The theme for week 42 was Qualitative and Case Study Research. We were supposed to choose one qualitative research paper and one case study research to read and evaluate. I read Coming of age with the internet: A qualitative exploration of how the internet has become an integral part of young people’s lives by McMillan and Morrison and “All over the place”: A case study of classroom multitasking and attentional performance by Hassoun. Since the lecture was canceled I only participated at the seminar last week.
During the seminar we got extra time to discuss the topics, and it felt like it was needed. At first we discussed qualitative methods, but since we discussed that last seminar we quickly moved on to case study. We had a hard time describing what a case study actually is, it was easier to agree on what a case study in not. It does not start with a hypothesis, from there we agreed that a case study tend to be more specific in details such as context, age etc.
Our final description was that it is a research method where you get a deeper understanding of a subject. Often a combination of several methods are used, and they could both be quantitative or qualitative. You make a research about a subject you don’t know much about.
During the seminar we got extra time to discuss the topics, and it felt like it was needed. At first we discussed qualitative methods, but since we discussed that last seminar we quickly moved on to case study. We had a hard time describing what a case study actually is, it was easier to agree on what a case study in not. It does not start with a hypothesis, from there we agreed that a case study tend to be more specific in details such as context, age etc.
Our final description was that it is a research method where you get a deeper understanding of a subject. Often a combination of several methods are used, and they could both be quantitative or qualitative. You make a research about a subject you don’t know much about.
We had a long discussion if a case study research can be done on historical scenarios or events or if they need to be done on current cases. We based this discussion on the fact that a case study needs to have a specific time and place. Our conclusion to this is that there are nothing against why a case study could not be done on a historical case, but we could not come up with a good example.
Hi! Great reflection, seems like you had some interesting discussions during the seminar! I agree that it was hard at first to define case studies, as every research basically includes a case of some sort (which was our initial definition). However, we also came up with the same conclusion as you did, that it does not begin with a hypothesis, and is used to gain new knowledge about a specific topic. Your discussion about case studies needing to be in a specific time and space is really interesting and something I haven't thought about myself. I agree that it doesn't necessarily have to be true, one could maybe use case studies on fossils for example, which would investigate history? Anyways, good job!
SvaraRaderaHi! You made great reflection. Especially I liked your point that a case study needs to have a specific time and place. It's interesting conclusion. We didn't discuss that point at our seminar. It got me thinking about it. In my opinion, a case study can be conducted just in presence and cannot be replicated.
SvaraRaderaAnyways, well done, good conclusions!
Hi! Your reflection is great. I think you did a very good job on summarizing the key points of the theme concept ' case study'. Actually I feel that my understanding of the term is much improved after reading your writing. The highlights are very helpful, such as 'It does not start with a hypothesis', 'needs to have a specific time and place', and tend to be more specific in details, as well as that 'combination of several methods are used to a research subject you don't know too much in a case study'. What's more, it is an interesting topic proposed by you on 'if a case study research can be done on historical scenarios or events or if they need to be done on current cases.' In my opinion, I agree with you conclusion that there are no obvious reasons to say no, but it is also hard to think how to conduct a case study in a historical scenario properly. Still, it is a good question. Hope we could find out more in our future studies. Thanks for your sharing. Well done!
SvaraRadera