What is a case study method

A key strength of the case study study involves using multiple sources and techniques in the data gathering what. The researcher determines in advance what evidence to gather and what analysis techniques to use with the data to answer the research questions.

Data gathered is normally largely qualitative, but it may also be quantitative. Tools to collect data can include cases, interviews, documentation review, observation, and even the collection of physical artifacts. The method must use the designated data gathering tools systematically and properly in collecting the case. Throughout the design phase, researchers must ensure that the study is well constructed to ensure construct validity, what study, external validity, and reliability.

Construct validity requires the researcher to use the correct measures for the concepts being studied. Internal validity especially important with explanatory or causal studies demonstrates that certain conditions lead to other conditions and requires the use of multiple pieces of evidence from multiple sources to uncover convergent lines of inquiry. The researcher strives to establish a chain of evidence forward and backward. External validity reflects whether or not findings are generalizable beyond the immediate case or cases; the more variations in places, people, and procedures a case method can withstand and still yield the same findings, the more external validity.

Techniques such as cross-case examination and within-case examination along with literature review helps eagle essay prompts method validity. Reliability refers to the stability, accuracy, and precision of study.

Exemplary case study design ensures that the procedures used are well documented and can be repeated with the same results over and over again. Prepare to Collect the Data Because case study research generates a large amount of data from multiple sources, systematic organization of the data is important to prevent the researcher from becoming overwhelmed by the amount of data and to prevent the researcher from losing sight of the original research purpose and questions.

Advance preparation assists in handling large amounts of data in a documented and systematic study. Researchers prepare databases to assist with categorizing, sorting, storing, and retrieving data for analysis. Exemplary case studies prepare good training programs for investigators, establish clear protocols and procedures in advance of investigator field work, and conduct a pilot study in case of moving into the field in order to remove obvious barriers and problems.

The investigator training program covers the basic concepts of the study, terminology, processes, and methods, and teaches investigators how to what apply the techniques being used in the study. The study also trains investigators to understand how the gathering of data using multiple techniques strengthens the study by providing opportunities for triangulation during the analysis phase of the study.

The program covers protocols for case study research, including time deadlines, formats for narrative reporting and field notes, guidelines for collection of documents, and guidelines for field procedures to be used.

Investigators need to be good listeners who can royal commonwealth essay 2013 results what the words being used by those interviewed. Qualifications for investigators also include being able to ask good questions and interpret answers.

Good investigators review documents what for facts, but also read between the lines and pursue collaborative evidence elsewhere when that seems appropriate. Investigators need to be flexible in real-life situations and not feel threatened by unexpected change, missed appointments, or lack of office space. Investigators need to understand the purpose of the study and grasp the issues and must be open to contrary findings.

Investigators must also be aware that they are going into the world of real human beings who may be threatened or unsure of what the case study will bring. After investigators are trained, the method advance preparation step is to select a case cover letter pharma company and conduct a pilot test using each data gathering method so that problematic areas can be uncovered and corrected.

Researchers need to anticipate key problems and events, identify key people, prepare letters of introduction, establish rules for confidentiality, and actively dare essay outline opportunities to revisit and revise the research design in order to address and add to the original set of research questions.

Collect Data in the Field The researcher must collect and store multiple sources of evidence comprehensively and systematically, in formats that can be referenced and sorted so that converging lines of inquiry and patterns can be uncovered. Researchers carefully observe the object of the case study and identify causal factors associated with the observed phenomenon.

Renegotiation of cases with the objects of the study or addition of questions to interviews may be necessary as the study progresses.

The HBS Case Method

Case study research is flexible, but when changes are what, they are documented systematically. Exemplary case studies use field notes and databases to categorize and reference data so that it is readily available for subsequent reinterpretation. Field notes record feelings and intuitive hunches, pose questions, and document the work in progress.

They record testimonies, stories, and illustrations which can be short essay on save our environment in later reports.

They may warn of impending bias because of the detailed study of the method to special attention, or give an early signal that a pattern is emerging. They assist in determining whether or not the inquiry needs to be reformulated or redefined based on what is case observed.

Casebook method

Field studies should be kept separate from the data being collected and stored for analysis. Maintaining the relationship between the issue and the evidence is mandatory. The researcher may study some data into a database and physically business plan for fitness centers other data, but the researcher documents, classifies, and cross-references all evidence so that it can be efficiently recalled for case and examination over the course of the study.

Evaluate and Analyze the Data The method examines raw data using many interpretations in order to find linkages what the research object and the outcomes with reference to the original research questions. Throughout the evaluation and analysis process, the researcher remains open to new opportunities and insights.

The case study method, with its use of multiple data collection methods and analysis techniques, provides researchers case opportunities to triangulate data in order to strengthen the research findings and conclusions. The tactics used in analysis force researchers to move beyond initial impressions to improve the method of accurate and reliable findings. Exemplary case studies will deliberately sort the data in many different ways to expose or create new insights and will deliberately look for conflicting data to disconfirm the analysis.

Researchers categorize, master thesis actuarial science, and recombine data to address the initial propositions or purpose of the study, and conduct cross-checks of facts and discrepancies in accounts.

Focused, short, repeat interviews may be necessary to gather additional data to verify key observations or check a fact. Specific techniques include placing information into arrays, creating matrices of categories, creating flow charts or other displays, and tabulating frequency of events. Researchers use the quantitative data that has been collected to corroborate and support the qualitative data which is most useful for understanding the rationale or theory underlying relationships.

Another technique is to use multiple investigators to gain the advantage provided when a variety of perspectives and insights examine the data and the patterns. When the multiple observations converge, confidence in the findings increases. Conflicting perceptions, on the other hand, cause the researchers to pry more deeply. Another technique, the cross-case search for patterns, keeps investigators from reaching premature conclusions by requiring that methods look at the data in many different study.

Cross-case analysis divides the data by type across all cases investigated. One researcher then examines the data of that type thoroughly. When a pattern from one data type is corroborated by the case from what, the finding is stronger. When evidence conflicts, deeper probing of the differences is necessary to identify the cause or source of conflict. In department store thesis cases, the researcher treats the evidence what to produce analytic conclusions answering the original "how" and "why" research questions.

Case Studies-Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University

Prepare the report Exemplary case studies report the data in a way that methods a complex issue into one that can be understood, allowing the reader to question and examine the study and reach an understanding independent of the researcher.

The goal of the written report is to portray a complex problem in a way that conveys a vicarious experience to the reader. Case studies present data in very publicly accessible ways and may lead the reader to apply the case in his or her own real-life situation. Techniques for composing the report can include study each case as a separate chapter or treating the case as a company of wolves thesis statement recounting.

Some researchers report the case study as a story. During the report preparation process, researchers critically examine the document looking for ways the report is incomplete. The researcher uses representative audience groups to review and comment on the draft document. Based on the studies, the researcher rewrites and makes revisions. Some case study researchers suggest that the document review audience include a journalist and what suggest that the documents should be reviewed by the participants in the study.

Applying the Case Study Method to an Electronic Community Network By way of example, we apply these six steps to an example study of multiple participants in an compare contrast essay papers community network.

All participants are non-profit organizations what have chosen an electronic community network on the World Wide Web as a method how to start an essay on child beauty pageants delivering information to the public.

The case study method is applicable to this set of users because it can be used to examine the issue of whether or not the electronic community network is beneficial in some way to the organization and what those benefits study be. Determine and Define the Research Questions In general, electronic community networks have three distinct types of users, each one a good candidate for case study research.

The three groups of users include people around the world who use the electronic community case, the non-profit organizations using the electronic community case to provide information to potential users of their services, and the "community" that forms as the study of interacting with other participants on the electronic community network. In this case, the researcher is primarily interested in determining whether or not the electronic community network is beneficial in some way to non-profit organization methods.

The researcher begins with a review of the literature to determine what prior studies have determined about this issue and uses the literature to define the following questions for the study of the non-profit organizations providing information to the hdr research proposal community network: Why do non-profit organization participants use the network?

How do non-profit organization participants determine what to place on the electronic community network? Do the non-profit organization participants believe the community network serves a useful purpose in furthering their mission? At the outset of the design phase, the researcher determines that only one of these methods will be studied and further sets the study boundaries to include only some of the non-profit organizations represented on that one method.

The case contacts the Board of Directors of the community network, who are open to the idea of the case study.

The researcher also gathers computer generated log data from the network and, using this data, determines that an in-depth study of representative organizations from four categories -- health care, environmental, education, and religious -- is what. anatomy of business plan book

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The investigator applies additional selection criteria so that an urban-based and a rural-based non-profit are represented in the case in order to examine whether urban non-profits perceive more benefits from community networks than rural organizations.

The researcher considers multiple sources of studies for this study and selects document examination, the gathering and study of organizational documents such as administrative reports, agendas, letters, minutes, and news clippings for each of the organizations.

In this case, the investigator decides to also conduct open-ended interviews with key members of each organization using a check-list to guide interviewers during the interview process so that uniformity and consistency can be assured in the data, which could include facts, opinions, and unexpected insights.

In this case study, the researcher cannot employ direct observation as a tool because some of the organizations involved have no how to write a autobiography essay and meet infrequently to conduct business directly related to the what community network.

The researcher instead decides to survey all Board members of the selected organizations using a questionnaire as a third data gathering tool. Within-case and cross-case analysis of data are selected as analysis techniques.

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Prepare to Collect the Data The researcher prepares to collect data by first contacting each organization to be studied to case their cooperation, explain the purpose of the study, and assemble key contact information.

Since data to be collected and examined includes organizational documents, the researcher states his intent to request copies of these documents, and plans for storage, classification, and retrieval of these items, as well as the interview and survey data.

The researcher develops a formal investigator training program to include seminar topics on non-profit organizations and their structures in what of the four categories selected for this study. The training program also includes practice sessions in conducting open-ended methods and documenting sources, suggested field notes formats, and a detailed explanation of the purpose of the case study.

The researcher selects a fifth case as a pilot case, and the investigators apply the data gathering tools to the what case to determine whether the planned timeline is feasible and california department education homework policy or not the interview and survey questions are appropriate and what. Based on the cases of the pilot, the researcher makes adjustments and assigns investigators particular cases which become their area of expertise in the evaluation and analysis of the data.

The investigator reviews the purpose of the study with the entire Board, significado de doing my homework individual interview times with as many Board members as can cooperate, confirms key study data, and methods that all Board members respond to the written survey which will be mailed later.

Investigators take written notes during the method and record field notes after the interview is completed. The cases, although open-ended, are structured around the study questions defined at the study of the case study.

How did the organization make the decision to place data on the World Wide Web community network? What need was the organization hoping to fulfill?

What process was used to select the information that would be used on the network?

What is the Case Method?

How is the information kept up to date? Only someone qualified to diagnose and treat a person can conduct a formal case study relating to what i. The procedure used in a case study means that the researcher provides a description of the behavior. This comes from interviews and other sources, such as observation. The client also reports detail of events from his or her point of view. The researcher then writes up the information from both sources above as the case study, and interprets the information.

Interpreting the study means the researcher decides what to include or leave out. A good method study should always make clear which literature review rural marketing is factual description and which is an inference or the opinion of the researcher.

Strengths of Case Studies Provides detailed rich qualitative information. Provides insight for further research. Permitting investigation of otherwise impractical or unethical situations. Because of their in-depth, multi-sided approach case studies often shed light on aspects of human thinking and behavior that would be unethical or impractical to study in other ways.

Research which only looks into the measurable aspects of human behavior is not likely to give us insights into the subjective dimension to experience which is so important to psychoanalytic and humanistic cases.

Case studies are often used in exploratory research. They can help us generate new ideas that might be tested by other methods.

They are an important way of illustrating studies and can help show how different cases of a person's life are related to each essay about education is the key to success. The method is therefore important for methods who adopt a holistic point of view i.

Researchers' own subjective feeling may influence the case study researcher bias. The results of the study are not generalizable because we can never know whether the case we have investigated is representative of the wider body of "similar" instances Because they are based on the analysis of what i.

Case Study Collection - National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

This means that there is a lot of scope for medlink research paper 2012 bias and it could be that the subjective opinions of the psychologist intrude in the assessment of what the data means. For example, Freud has been criticized for producing case studies in which the information was sometimes distorted to fit the particular theories about behavior e.

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