1.Types of research studies 1 CASE STUDIES EXPERIMENTS DESIGN STUDIES SURVEYS MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst)

2. What is a case study? Not so much a question of METHOD as WHAT is to be studied Used to study phenomena or events that are not easily separated from their context 2 1.Casestudies MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 3. Intrinsic case studies The case is worth studying for its own right Interest in preservation and communication of the case No interest in generalization The sinking of the Titanic The handover of Hong Kong to China 3 1.Casestudies MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 4. Instrumental case studies The case is an example of a phenomenon or event of wider interest A study of the use of wikis to support inquiry-based learning A study of the implementation of Moodle at a Band 3 school in Hong Kong 4 1.Casestudies MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 5. Defining the case What kind of case would be relevant to the objectives of the study? Think about criteria for selecting cases to be included, e.g. Each case demonstrates best practice Each case could inform policy-making Together, the cases cover a range of situations 5 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 6. General research questions What is happening and why? Who is involved and what are their roles? What contextual factors support ? What are the problems and issues? 6 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 7. Unit of analysis What is the case about? An implementation? The teacher? A student? How long should data collection go on? What data sources are included? The case must be BOUNDED 7 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 8. Data collection Data types Observations, interviews, documents, etc. Data sources Classroom visits, EDB policies, student work, questionnaires, informal conversations, etc. Instrument design Questions to include in interviews, how to set up interviews, how often to observe, etc. Quality of data Leading questions, quality of transcription, difficulty of task, etc. 8 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 9. Analyzing the data (1) Qualitative analyses Coding the dataassigning conceptual categories to sections of data Looking for categories and relationships Quantitative analyses Quantifying the data (e.g. how often does X occur?) Using quantitative analytic procedures (e.g. tables, bar graphs) 9 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 10. Analyzing the data (2) Cross-case analyses Analyze the case reports for each case and examine cross-case patterns (similarities and differences) 10 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 11. Reporting What information do you include? How to represent the richness of the data How to organize the presentation Describing the findings Exemplifying the findings Standardizing across multiple case reports Discuss sources of bias, limitations, and implications 11 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 12. Yins classification of case studies Exploratory Case Studies No research questions at outset Must still have rationale and criteria for success You should take an exploratory case study at its face value. Your investigator may initially have been uncertain about some major aspect of a real studythe questions to be asked, the hypotheses of the study, . Once investigated, the pilot or exploratory phase should be considered completed. Now you are ready to start the real studywith a complete research design, a whole new set of sources (sites) of information, and a fresh set of datafrom scratch. (Yin, 1993, p. 6) 12 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 13. Yins classification of case studies Causal Case Studies Factorial designs (similar to quantitative studies) One or more dependent variables Several factors (independent variables) that can explain patterns in the dependent variable Explanatory theories Comparison of the data with two or more theories The theories are generally more complex than just a few factors 13 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies 14. Yins classification of case studies Multiple Case Studies A study that includes 2 or more cases Cases should be exact replicas or predictable variations 14 MITE 6025 Session 2 (van Aalst) 1.Casestudies