Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research (Pre-blog)

PART I - Qualitative study

I chose 'The psychological functions of avatars and alt(s): A qualitative study' by Gilbert, Thadani, Handy, Andrews, Sguigna, Sasso & Payne (2014). It deals with the 3D virtual world Second Life and the functions of avatars and alts. 

1. Which qualitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

The chosen study used a semi-structured interview, where the interviews had a protocol with open-end questions. This made it possible to add additional information if needed. Since users often have more than one avatar, the primary avatars were described by the participants first, including gender, body type and race. Furthermore the Big 5 Personality Inventory was defined. An average interview took 129 minutes. 

The interviews were then coded by coders who worked in pairs; Disagreements were discussed and clarified for every transcript. The benefits of these in-depth interviews are, that you get a clear view on what psychological functions avatars actually have and what value they have for gamers. Since the sample size only consisted of N=24, the generalizability is limited. 

2. What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?

I learned more about how interviews are coded and transcribed. I learned that the researchers developed the coding schemes rather "top-down", which means by using theory, than "bottom-up", which means by using data. They used 8 codes (e.g. Reverse Enhancement) to account for a function. The researchers took 4 interviews and discussed what statements could be identified, which were illustrative of each element in the model.

3. Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the qualitative method or methods have been improved?

The study had a small sample size (N=24), which makes it difficult to generalize the results. To get broader results it might be an option to conduct a follow-up study with a quantitative method, using all the insights gained during the first study. Secondly, the interpretation of the transcripts is difficult, and might be prone to subjectiveness. 

PART II - Case Study Research

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is.

A case study is a qualitative method to examine in depth real-life situations, rather than using statistical surveys. First, research questions need to be determined. Then, cases are collected and data is gathered. After the evaluation of the data, a report is written. 

2. Use the "Process of Building Theory from Case Study Research" (Eisenhardt, summarized in Table 1) to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your selected paper.

I selected "How Might Schools Influence Young People's Drug Use? Development of Theory From Qualitative Case-Study Research" by Fletcher, Bonell, Sorhaindo, & Strange (2006).

Getting started: The aim of the study is mentioned, and the research question is also being discussed thoroughly. 

Selecting cases: The study is based on qualitative case-study data. But it wasn't explained as much as I would have hoped for. It was carried out in two schools in London.

Crafting instruments and protocols: The description of the data collection is very clear.

Entering the field: I couldn't really find anything related to field notes multiple data collection.

Analyzing data: Thematic content analysis and grounded theory are used to compare the data to other cases, to challenge the analysis and the develop further theoretical insights. 

Shaping hypothesis: They found three pathways that could explain the role of the school in the drug use. It could have been made clearer, though. 

Enfolding literature: The paper compares it's aims to other literature in the beginning and mentions some resources at the end as well. 

Reaching closure: The research questions is answered for some parts, but there is no theoretical saturation made. 

Sources

Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building Theories From Case Study Research. The Qualitative Researcher's Companion, 14(4), 4-35.

Fletcher, A., Bonell, C., Sorhaindo, A., & Strange, V. (2006). How Might Schools Influence Young People's Drug Use? Development of Theory From Qualitative Case-Study Research. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(2), 126-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.12.021 

Gilbert, R., Thadani, V., Handy, C., Andrews, H., Sguigna, T., Sasso, A., & Payne, S. (2014). The psychological functions of avatars and alt(s): A qualitative study. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 1-8.