This week I'd say was mostly about case studies, and for a good reason, there was quite a bit to talk about regarding case-studies and what it means.
The texts did not give me that much to work with, and I looked up a definition on case study online that did not quite fit the same description as we had in this course.
In the seminar we began to talk about the meaning of a case study in the smaller group. We agreed on that a case study is about looking into quite rare, and different cases of either occurrences or perhaps people/groups that are different to the masses. It is its uniqueness that defines it, and what's interesting is what knowledge that can be acquired from it. This also means that a case study shouldn't be to confirm already existing theories, bur rather to help you construct your own. You do not predetermine a method to go with when investigating the case, but choose methods as you go on, and backtrack when it's needed.
In the bigger group this view on case studies was shared, and one student brought up a question as to whether or not documentaries are case studies? One could think so since it's about capturing the essence of one usually different thing, but what to remember is that the film is from the directors point of view, and thus it's more of a synthetic production. A funny thing that Ilias mentioned was that documentary filming has been used as a research method.
Going back to case studies, the fact that you do backtracking makes it cyclic, and so does paradigm shifts. Probably not-at-all-useful information, but oh well.
To wrap things up and say why this was a good way of wrapping up this course is that case studies tell you that there are no recipes for how things are to be done, and what methods are to be used. Of course you need to be careful of what theories you choose, but there is no recipe for knowledge production.
Hej,
SvaraRaderaI also liked the documentaries example from our seminar. In some way, you could probably still argue that documentaries can be seen as a type of case study research - though that would still not apply to all of them. I think that the argument of the subjective viewpoint of the filmmaker is not really valid as a criticism, because this is something that is also there in other research. In every study, the researcher presents results he or she thought to be relevant and interpreted them from a personal perspective. Before this course I thought that research provided neutral facts, but I learned that there is always subjectivity involved to some extent. So, now that I think about it again, we probably should have discussed the documentary question a bit further in the seminar!
Other than that, I agree with you that the broad and open definition of research in general was a good way to end this course. Knowledge production cannot always follow standardised processes. That is a very important learning!
Hi Måns!
SvaraRaderaI agree that this week the focus (at least in the seminar) was mostly on the case studies. However, I do believe that it was important to define the difference between such a study and a qualitative one, which I think Eisenhardt did. I think you seem to have comprehended what the definition of what the meaning of a case study was in this course, which is really good!
I also really like that you used the last part of your post reflection to reflect upon this in terms of being the last seminar and that you thought it was a good way to finish the course of. I liked that you highlighted some words in this post reflection as well as in the pre reflection.
Finally, I want to say that even though I agree that the focus was on the case studies, I also believe that you should have said SOMETHING about what new you've learned about qualitative studies.
Anyhow, good job overall,
and good luck with the final post!
Heyo Måns!
SvaraRaderaIt was interesting to hear stuff from your seminar. We did not discuss documentaries at all so that was news to me. I had no idea that a documentary can be viewed as a researched methods. I understand that it is hard for a documentary to be objective, but I think that is also the case in a qualitative study.You mention that a case study looks at something unique and therefor cannot be used to confirm a theory. I agree. The point of conducting a case study is to explore a entirely new area and see if there is something of interest in it to motivate a future study.
Hi, it's very short but incisive reflection, this theme's kernel topic is case study, so we focused on the same topic as you in the seminar group talk, and I like your definition of case study, " a case study is about looking into quite rare, and different cases of either occurrences or perhaps people/groups that are different to the masses". It seems you understand very well in this theme, good job!
SvaraRadera