EDU7900 Yin Book

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Case Stud Research

Design and Methods

An Overview

B Don Mur h

Cohort 7



Experiments

Histories



“how” or “why” questions are being posed I i h i

The focus is on a contemporary phenomenon

within some real-life context Explanatory Case studies

Ex lorator Case studies

Descriptive Case Studies



complex social phenomena

A ows investigators to retain t e o istic

and meaningful characteristics of real-lifeevents



…

The type of research question posed Who What Where How Wh

The extent of control an investigator has

over actual behavioral events The degree of focus on contemporary as

opposed to historical events



Provide little basis for scientificeneralization

Take too long and result in massive,

unreadable documents



,

tendency among all types of case study, it

a r e o um na e a ec on or e

of decisions; why they were taken, howt ey were imp emente , an wit w at

result.



Investigates a contemporary phenomenon within itsreal-life context es eciall when the boundaries

between phenomenon and context are not clearly

evident Involves more variables of interest than data points

Relies on multiple sources of evidence – data needs

to converge in a triangulating fashion



Research Desi n: The lo ic that links the data to

be collected to the initial questions of study “logical plan of getting from here (initial set of

Case study designs need to maximize four

conditions related to desi n ualit : Construct validity

Internal validity

x erna va y reliability



Construct Validit – establishin correct

operational measures for the conceptsbeing studied nterna a ty – esta s ng a causa

relationship which a study’s findings can be generalized

Reliabilit – demonstratin that theoperations of a study can be repeated withthe same results



Components ofesearc es gn Study's

questions

criteria forits

Components

n erpre ng

the findings

propositions, i

any

logic linking

data to theits units of

analysispropos ons





design phase of case studies Provides sim le blue rint or our stud

Takes time and may be difficult

Types of theories: Individual, Group,

Or anizational Societal





- –

Single-case (embedded) designs – T e 2

Multiple-case (holistic) designs – Type 3

Multiple-case (embedded) designs – Type4





.

Common Example: Study of schoolinnovations (new curricula, rearran edschool schedules, or new educational

technology) in which individual schools adopt.of an individual case study, but the study asa whole covers several schools and in this

way uses a multiple-case design.



-

that it either: Predicts similar results – literal re lication

(or)

Predicts contrasting results by notpre icta e reasons – t eoretica rep ication



,

a subunit of subunits. Embedded Exam les:

a case study about a hospital may include

outcomes about the clinical services andstaff employed by the hospital

Single case about a public program that

nvo ve arge nu er o un e pro ec(the embedded units)



Case stud investi ator: Desired Skills

Well-trained and experienced Training and Preparation

Goal: To become “senior” investigators Seminars facilitate this

Contains the instrument as well as the procedures

and general rules to be followed in using the

pro oco Increases the reliability of case study research and

is intended to uide the investi ator



collection Hel s to re ine our data collection lans

with respect to both the content of the

data and the procedures to be followed Inquiry may be much broader and less

focused than the ultimate data collection

p an



, , ,

direct observation, participant-observation, and physical artifacts

Three principles:

Using multiple, not single, sources ofevidence

Creating a case study database

Maintaining a chain of evidence



Documents

EDU7900 Yin Book