As I chose a case study on how school might influence young people's drug use it was interesting to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the paper.
In the seminar itself we concluded that case studies do not include hypotheses. Why?
Since they don't have enough information, it's simply not possible to have any hypotheses- Case studies tackle very specific topics. Furthermore, a case study research can be described as cyclical.
Since the whole purpose of a case study is to build a theory, the researcher mostly enters a unknown field and it can be that it's not even clear where they're going to end up, or what final findings one can get. This can best be described by Paul Feyerabend's thoughts "anything goes". There is no strict structure as in methodology, which can be followed and that will lead to answers to all questions, basically.
In sum, I learned more about what case study research is, and what is part of it or not.
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.
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts! I agree with you that a case study does not seek out to address specific hypothesis. I think that it helps to enter into an area where you know too little and want to find out more. Furthermore, I always enjoy that you note the literature you used for your reflection. I choose the paper “A Qualitative Research to Classifying Comments in Online Shops Based on Contents”. The paper focuses on what online retailers and product producers should pay attention to the advices and items written in comments system of online shops, try hard to mine useful knowledge and discover shortages, so as to improve their services or products effectively. During the discussion in the seminar, one person gave an example when a case study was useful: A paper about internet addiction in the year 2000 in which surveys and interviews were used. The person explained that it was a good example of trying to find out if something is there or not. What are your thoughts on this?
SvaraRaderaI enjoyed reading your posts and thought that your reflection was very clear and well developed. It shows that you have reflected upon this week's theme and as I had a harder time grasping the concept of case study I thought your post did a good job in summarizing the core concepts. I agree that case studies are used to build a theory and that it's used when there is not enough information. An example from our seminar that helped me understand when to use cacse studies is when your not sure if something exists or not and want to research this.
SvaraRaderaHi! I enjoy reading your reflection. I agree that the main characteristic of case study is absence of hypothesis, and the main goal of conducting case study is to find out more information about subject of research. Also I like your point that case study can be cycling. Before seminar I had wrong idea what case study is, after seminar and reading your reflection I understand the concept of case study and its difference from research methods that we learnt before.
SvaraRaderaHi, thank you for your final reflection. I had not thought about hypothesis in the context of case studies but in line with what a case study is it sounds very reasonable.
SvaraRaderaI agree that there is no strict structure for case studies but I did not understand this sentence “There is no strict structure as in methodology, which can be followed and that will lead to answers to all questions, basically” Did you mean that methodology will lead to answers to all questions when not using a case study? If so I don’t really agree. Not just by having a good method will it lead to answers. Paul Fayerabend argues that Fayerabend argues that not by using a strong method will it produce scientific progress.
Thanks for sharing us with your thoughts! Your thinking was very impressive. You get a good understanding on the two lectures, and I enjoyed reading through your reflections. Good job!
SvaraRaderaHello.
SvaraRaderaI have never thought about that a case study does not have a hypothesis, that is interesting. Could that be because you do not want to skew the results you get and be as unbiased as possible? I think that it is really important to not have any presumptions when starting a case study since like you are saying it could end anywhere. I think that it is very free and anything goes as long as it is logical and rational.
Thanks for your thoughts and good luck with the rest of the course!
Hello !
SvaraRaderaI liked the fact that you talked about hypotheses. We've also discussed about it in our seminar, and the fact that case studies and hypotheses can be related to one another in the fact that they are the beginning of a theory - through them we can learn more about a subject yet unknown. Indeed, it is something not entirely instinctual! We've heard a lot about case studies before, yet I didn't think about that before having read the literature and attended the seminar ! In this sense, a case study is most important in its design - how you strategically decide to build it - rather than the methods (quantitative or qualitative) that you are using.
Thanks for this insightful blog post!