This week’s theme was about qualitative and case study research. The plan was to have a lecture and a seminar after the pre posting. Unfortunately the lecture was cancelled and we only had a seminar. I felt that this affected my learning for this theme because I could only base the seminar on what I had read for the pre post and my own interpretations. A lecture would have been good to clear up some of the concepts that were hard to grasp, such as case study.
During the seminar my group discussed both qualitative and case studies that we had read about for the pre post. We talked about our qualitative study papers first. Most of what was said felt as a repetition from the previous theme about quantitative research where there was a question about qualitative methods. I feel that it would have been better having quantitative and qualitative research as one theme instead of splitting them up like this. Because in order to talk about quantitative it’s easier to also discuss qualitative to understand what differs and defines them as separate research methods. I feel that I already explained qualitative studies in a previous theme and the main purpose of it is to achieve a deeper and broader understanding of something. One thing that was new was that the number of participant does not define it being quantitative or qualitative. It’s the content that matters.
We later on discussed what case study research is and took turns in telling each other about the case studies we chose to read for the pre post. We mostly talked on how our papers fulfilled the 8 steps recommended in the literature. I didn’t feel that the smaller group discussion was enlightening, most of us had only our pre posting to base our discussion on and it felt as I didn’t get a clearer idea on what exactly a case study is. Although after the smaller group discussions Ilias talked during the second part and answered to questions such as what a case study is and when it’s good to use one. This part of the seminar felt more rewarding to me. I understood that the main purpose of case studies is to create a theory or rather gain knowledge and not confirming a theory. For example it’s profitable to conduct case studies when you have a field that is unknown or poorly researched that you want to investigate. They allow you to dig deeper and create a theory on the field you are researching. Ilias brought up some good things that I felt helped me understand the concept better. He said that a case study focuses on something specific and investigates what makes it stand out and differ. He also mention it being a good method of investigating a field to see if it's worth to further investigate. For example if a group of people were suddenly turned into robots you could pick up one of them to base your case study on. The case study would then provide you the tools to see if there is more to investigate and gain knowledge on how to further develop your conducted research.
I felt that understanding exactly what case studies are was the hardest part during this theme, but I feel that I have better understanding from my first posting.
During the seminar my group discussed both qualitative and case studies that we had read about for the pre post. We talked about our qualitative study papers first. Most of what was said felt as a repetition from the previous theme about quantitative research where there was a question about qualitative methods. I feel that it would have been better having quantitative and qualitative research as one theme instead of splitting them up like this. Because in order to talk about quantitative it’s easier to also discuss qualitative to understand what differs and defines them as separate research methods. I feel that I already explained qualitative studies in a previous theme and the main purpose of it is to achieve a deeper and broader understanding of something. One thing that was new was that the number of participant does not define it being quantitative or qualitative. It’s the content that matters.
We later on discussed what case study research is and took turns in telling each other about the case studies we chose to read for the pre post. We mostly talked on how our papers fulfilled the 8 steps recommended in the literature. I didn’t feel that the smaller group discussion was enlightening, most of us had only our pre posting to base our discussion on and it felt as I didn’t get a clearer idea on what exactly a case study is. Although after the smaller group discussions Ilias talked during the second part and answered to questions such as what a case study is and when it’s good to use one. This part of the seminar felt more rewarding to me. I understood that the main purpose of case studies is to create a theory or rather gain knowledge and not confirming a theory. For example it’s profitable to conduct case studies when you have a field that is unknown or poorly researched that you want to investigate. They allow you to dig deeper and create a theory on the field you are researching. Ilias brought up some good things that I felt helped me understand the concept better. He said that a case study focuses on something specific and investigates what makes it stand out and differ. He also mention it being a good method of investigating a field to see if it's worth to further investigate. For example if a group of people were suddenly turned into robots you could pick up one of them to base your case study on. The case study would then provide you the tools to see if there is more to investigate and gain knowledge on how to further develop your conducted research.
I felt that understanding exactly what case studies are was the hardest part during this theme, but I feel that I have better understanding from my first posting.
Hello Isabella! I agree that it isn't the number of participants that decides if it is a qualitative or quantitative study. It is when you analyze the data that it becomes significant to talk about the study being qualitative or quantitative.
SvaraRaderaI think it is important to realize that a case study isn't a research method in itself. It is something you use when building new theory about something unknown.
Nice reflection :)
Hi there Isabella.
SvaraRaderaI enjoyed reading your reflection and I agree with you on basically all of your points. I also feel that not having a lecture was a unfortunate thing to happen since I felt like my learning didn't go as smooth as previous weeks and you and me are probably not alone in this aspect. I also agree that there should be just one theme covering both quantitative and qualitative research methods since it is much easier to talk about both, rather than just one of them. One of your most important points, according to me, is the fact that you can use a case study to see if the area is worth researching further and also how to do that research.
Glad to see some new ideas about qualitative method and case study. One is that the number of participant does not define it being quantitative or qualitative. I agree with that. And in terms of case study, when case study is building a theory on the field you are researching, actually it is also a process of research. So it is obvious to see that case study is one kind of research rather than method. Anyway, good work!
SvaraRaderaThanks 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!
SvaraRaderaOverall, I feel quite the same as you regarding this theme. We too began discussing qualitative methods in the papers we read and tried to reach common ground on what defined qualitative methods. Turned out to be near impossible without comparing to quantitative methods. I therefore agree with you that these two should without doubt be treated in the same theme and not split up.
SvaraRaderaFun that you had the same kind of epiphany as I did when Ilias described case studies. Even though I before the seminar had a somewhat understanding I had a hard time explaining what really determined a case study. But then he dropped the bomb and the pieces fell into place. I now also have a far better understanding of case studies than before the theme!
You wrote a very nice reflection on this week's theme. I agree with you that it is easier to grasp the nature of qualitative methods by defining what makes them to be different from quantitative methods. Moreover, I completely agree with you when you say that case studies are used to gain more knowledge or to a starting point for finding new theories. I like the example with the robots you used to illustrate that point. It is easy to remember and it makes it clear that case studies can be used when you do not know where to start your research otherwise.
SvaraRaderaHey!
SvaraRaderaVery nice post and a great recap of this theme. I agree with you that it would be much easier and clearer if we investigated qualitative and quantitative methods at the same time so we have a direct comparisons of the two. Hopefully, this will be changed for the next years class.
It was a shame that this week we didn't have a lecture. I think I would benefit from it and that case studies would be clearer. I also feel that our discussions in the groups weren't very productive because we all had different papers we were reading and writing about, and while talking about them we weren't really gaining any insight in case studies. Only thing that helped were Ilias's examples. All in all, I concur with you on your conclusions and takeaways from this topic.
Hello Isabella!
SvaraRaderaI agree with you that the group discussion about case study became a bit short, we all have had some trouble using the 8 steps to do an analysis. But it seems to me that you have a gained a good understanding of what is is and how it is soposed so be used. It is to understand something that is new and you want to know more about.
Great job on you reflection and the course in general! :)
Hello Isabella!
SvaraRaderaGreat reflection! I also had a hard time understanding what a case study was before Ilias explained it during my seminar. I think that just looking up and reading a case study was not the best way of understanding the concept so it was good that he gave us his own explanation. I agree that the topics of quantitative and qualitative methods should have been discussed during the same week since it is so easy to compare them when discussing them.
Hi Isabella!
SvaraRaderaSomething that a lot of people have written about during this weeks theme is the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods - That it is not the number of participants that matters but rather the type of data you collect and how you analyze it. This is an insight that probably should have come during a previous theme (the one about quantitative methods) and I agree with you that it would be more beneficial to have qualitative and quantitative methods in the same theme.
I think that the most important realization from this weeks theme is that case study is not a research method in itself, as opposed to qualitative or quantitative research methods. The research method defined HOW you research something but whether it is a case study or not is defined by WHAT you are studying.
Nice reflection, good luck with the final post! :)
It's interesting that you say a case study shows how something stands out and differs, because I've previously read some cases where the subjects were approached as being - to some extent - representative of the field as a whole, and therefore selected to be as none-outstanding as could be. Then again, it did in a way show how the instances it was related to stood out from instances that were entirely different, so I suppose it could work both ways.
SvaraRadera