Monday, October 14, 2013

Case Study: Qualitative Research

As defined by Lunenberg and Irby (2008), qualitative research "emphasizes understanding by closely examining people's words, actions, and records, as opposed to a quantitative research approach that investigates such words, actions, and records at a mathematically significant level" (p. 89).

As I read these chapters on the banks of a lake in Pocahontas, Arkansas, I was reminded again of my distaste for qualitative research.  Over the past few weeks, I have hyped myself up, telling myself that doing a "few" case studies wouldn't be so bad.  And then...BAM...page 151! Leedy reminds me that qualitative data collection "takes a great deal of time."  So I got a little nervous just thinking about the interviews, transcriptions, field notes, and then the analysis of all that data.  The information presented in the chapter served as a great refresher and good reality check.

The case study information from Table 6.1 (Leedy, 2013):

Case Study:

  • Purpose:
    • To understand one person or situation (or perhaps a very small number) in great depth
  • Focus:
    • One case or a few cases within its/their natural setting
  • Methods of Data Collection:
    • Observations
    • Interviews
    • Appropriate written documents and/or audiovisual material
  • Methods of Data Analyses:
    • Categorization and interpretation of data in terms of common themes
    • Synthesis into an overall portrait of the cases(s)
A link to more in-depth information about case studies:  http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/resined/Case_study/casest.htm

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