For the last theme in this course the
lecture got canceled so we wasn’t presented with any new perspective from the
lecture. The seminar took place as usual and we sat in groups and discussed the
theme of the week. We had all read different papers and I presented my findings
along with the fact that I had problems to understand how the paper “Building
Theories from Case Study Research” defined “case study”. In the beginning of
the paper I understand that they meant I process or tool to create theory that didn’t
exist or wasn’t close enough to the field of science before the execution of
the research. But later in the text they
define it in a more recognized fashion with the sentence “The case study is a
research strategy, which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within
single settings”. If I am not mistaken I believe that Illas said in the seminar
that the case study is to be seen as “a constructed frame made of fixed
attributes where the thesis can be tested”. I feel that I probably need to read
up on this prior to my master thesis to be able to handle the case study, if
needed.
A little short reflection here, but you're on to something in your discussion! It did not really show whether or not you understood the concept of case study, but I'll just give it a shot and give you my two cents!
SvaraRaderaCase studies aims to investigate in-depth something rather unusual, a special "case" that, for its uniqueness/originality, is interesting. No method is chosen on before-hand, but it's chosen as the study progresses, and one can always backtrack in case-studies, thus that makes it cyclic. The case could be just one- or a group of people or some thing(s) that are unusual. It's very free in terms of one can do in a case study. The aim is knowledge production, to gain knowledge about it.
Good luck with the last post!
You did a good job explaining what your role was during the seminar and what your group discussions were like. It would however have been interesting to read about what you learned, if you realized you had been wrong about something or if you found anything from the seminar particularly interesting. I actually disagree with you regarding the definition of a case study. During our seminar we talked about how case studies are used when you do not have enough information about the field you are studying to create a theory. Case studies are therefore useful to find out more information, see if something exists or not so that future studies can create theories and test these based on the results of a case study.
SvaraRaderaHi! Good job with this blog post. I was a bit disappointed that they cancelled the lecture because I always learn a lot during the lectures, and it is a good preparation for the seminar as well. It had been nice to read what you will remember from this theme and if you found any new angles that you hadn't thought of before. I think that a case study is a interesting way of collecting data but since you cannot draw any general conclusions from the study I would say that I would used is as a complement to a bigger study and that you collect data from another method as well if you want to have a result that can be generalized.
SvaraRaderaHi,
SvaraRaderashort, but you pick up some interesting points. I agree with you that case studies take a look at certain scenarios or situations and therefore are a lot more specific than all other studies we have discussed so far. Case studies are also cyclical and don't include hypotheses, since there's not enough information to form any. The aim is to build theory, which is certainly not easy, when researchers have to start to work within an unknown field. There's not one sole path to success and answers in this case.
Hi!
SvaraRaderaFirst off, I have to comment on your post reflection being really short, I think you could have put a little more effort in trying to reflect on this week's theme a bit more.
I think it's good that your honest and say that you probably need to read up on case studies before your masters thesis (since you claim that you haven't learned a lot about such studies during this week). That's the good. But what do you feel that you DID learn this week? What did you learn to do/not do when constructing a case study from your chosen paper? What did you learn about case studies from the seminar except that Ilias said "the case study is to be seen as a constructed frame made of fixed attributes where the thesis can be tested.”? I mean, you really do not REFLECT that much in this post seminar post, which is kind of the point.
To be honest, you don't even mention qualitative research studies, which was half of this weeks theme. Not to sound harsh (which I realize that I do) but I think you could have put a little more effort in constructing this blog post.
Best of luck with the last post!