CHAPTER 13
CASE STUDIES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
TEACHING ACTIVITIES FOR CHAPTER 13
Activity 1. Case stories and case study research.
Some educators who plan to do a case study do not understand how this type of research differs from the stories
teachers tell in the school staff room or in other settings.
To help your students understand the difference between these two forms of inquiry, you can ask them to read
the case-story article by high-school teacher Ariel Sacks, reprinted at the end of Chapter 13, as a homework
assignment prior to class. In class, you can ask students to consider how they might design a formal case study that
Activity 2. Qualitative data collection.
Some of your students might not have any prior experience in collecting intensive data as an event unfolds.
Learning this skill is useful if your students will eventually do a case study. It also will help them become good
observers of students in their own classrooms and of educational activities in other settings.
Learning to observe closely and record intensive data obviously are not skills that can be taught quickly.
However, you can give your students an indication of what these skills involve. One way to do this is to show them
a video for approximately 15 minutes and ask them to take copious notes about everything they see, including notes
about their own reactions. You can show them just about any video you have access to, such as a Hollywood film,
an educational film showing classroom interaction, or even a YouTube video.
Following the video, call on one student to share his or her notes with the class. When the sharing is done, call
Activity 3. Analysis and evaluation of the article reprint.
You can ask students to read the reprinted article about computer-supported instruction at the end of Chapter 13
and evaluate it using the criteria in Appendix 4 and those specified in Table 13.5 on page 361. In class, you can call
on students to state what they consider strengths and weaknesses of the study. Also, you can ask them to form small
groups in which they discuss the practical significance of the study’s findings.
MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST ITEMS FOR CHAPTER 13
1. The primary difference between case stories and case studies is that case stories
a. describe a phenomenon in its natural context.
b. do not convey the author’s perspective on the phenomenon that was studied.
c. do not provide evidence for judging the validity of the author’s claims.
d. cannot be used by educators to reflect on their own problems of practice.
2. The methodology of case study research derives primarily from
a. literary criticism.
b. quantitative descriptive research.
c. historical research.
d. ethnography.
3. In case study research, a “case” is ___________ that is of interest to the researcher.
a. anything in a particular setting
b. every example of a phenomenon
c. a specific instance of a phenomenon
d. the interpretive framework of the phenomenon
4. In case study research, the emic perspective refers to the viewpoint of
a. individuals who read and interpret the case study findings.
b. the researchers who are conducting the study.
c. the participants who are being studied.
d. individuals whose culture differs from that of the participants who are being studied.
5. Interpretivism is
a. the belief that reality is constructed by the individuals who participate in it.
b. the belief that reality exists independently of its participants.
c. an approach to analyzing case study dat that emphasizes the researcher participants’ perspective.
d. the collection of case study data about research participants’ myths, fables, and religious stories.
6. Case studies
a. can be based on either a positivist orientation or an interpretivist orientation.
b. usually reflect a positivist orientation.
c. usually reflect an interpretivist orientation
d. typically seek to evaluate educational phenomena.
7. Qualitative research
a. is synonymous with case study research.
b. has evolved into case study research and ethnography.
c. has evolved into many research traditions.
d. focuses primarily on the study of culture and individuals’ behavior within cultural contexts.
8. Case study researchers include thick descriptions in their reports in order to
a. provide sufficient information for other researchers to be able to replicate the study.
b. help readers understand the situation that was studied and how the research participants view it.
c. provide evidence to help readers of the report judge its validity.
d. All of the above.
9. Case study research aims to
a. describe phenomena of interest.
b. evaluate phenomena of interest.
c. identify relational patterns and causal patterns within phenomena of interest.
d. All of the above.
10. The general rationale for purposeful sampling is to select cases that
a. facilitate the generalizability of findings to other cases.
b. are information-rich with respect to the phenomenon being studied.
c. are representative of a defined population.
d. reflect the researchers’ etic perspective.
11. In snowball sampling, researchers select cases that
a. other researchers have used in their studies.
b. are likely to yield thick descriptions of the phenomena of interest.
c. are recommended by individuals who know other individuals likely to yield relevant, information–
rich data.
d. will help them validate the findings obtained from the initial sample of cases.
12. Triangulation involves the use of
a. the best method of data collection in relation to the case study’s purpose.
b. different data sources, methods of analysis, or theories to check research findings.
c. collecting data reflecting both an etic and an emic perspective.
d. All of the above.
13. Focus groups are used to
a. collect questionnaire data in an efficient manner.
b. collect interview data in an efficient manner.
c. collect data about feelings and opinions that might not be expressed in individual interviews.
d. identify the aspects of a phenomenon on which the case study can focus most productively.
14. Reflexivity is a process in which case study researchers
a. interpret the participants’ emic perspective.
b. collect sufficient data to thoroughly understand the phenomenon being studied.
c. identify their own biases and orientation to the phenomenon being studied.
d. maintain a positive stance toward the participants’ behavior and beliefs.
15. Theoretical saturation occurs when case study researchers are satisfied that
a. no more significant findings are likely to emerge from additional review of the literature.
b. additional data collection and analysis no longer result in new knowledge about the phenomenon
being investigated.
c. focus groups cannot uncover any more information about the phenomenon being investigated.
d. theories concerning research participants’ emic perspective have been proposed.
16. The identification of significant constructs, themes, and patterns in case study data is part
of the process of
a. reflexivity.
b. theoretical saturation.
c. reflective analysis.
d. interpretational analysis.
17. Breaking text into segments and constant comparison are procedures used in
a. the grounded-theory method.
b. comparisons of the emic and etic perspectives.
c. reflective analysis.
d. developing thick descriptions.
18. Unlike interpretational analysis of case study data, reflective analysis emphasizes
a. the grounded-theory method.
b. thick descriptions.
c. researchers’ use of intuition and personal judgment.
d. use of data-analysis software such as NVivo, Ethnograph, and HyperResearch.
19. The applicability of the findings of a case study to other individuals and settings depends on
a. the sampling strategy used in the case study.
b. readers’ judgment about whether the cases are similar to situations of interest to them.
c. viewing case studies as stories that deepen understanding of the phenomenon that was studied.
d. All of the above.
20. Member checking is done in case-study research for the purpose of
a. ensuring that the research participants incurred no harm or breach of ethics.
b. having research participants review the research report for accuracy and completeness.
c. determining whether data coding was reliable.
d. ensuring the use of sampling strategies that are information-rich.
21. Multivocality in a case study refers
a. research participants’ expression of diverse viewpoints about the phenomenon being investigated.
b. sensitivity to the emic perspective of the research participants.
c. involvement of several researchers in a case study to increase the reliability of data collection.
d. sensitivity to the fact that the research participants’ communications include both explicit and
tacit messages.
SHORT-ANSWER TEST ITEMS FOR CHAPTER 13
1. Describe two key characteristics of the case study method.
2. Describe one way in which reflective analysis of case study findings resembles an artistic endeavor.
3. Describe three criteria that can be used to evaluate the quality and rigor of a case study.
CHAPTER 13
CASE STUDIES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Multiple-Choice Test Items
Short-Answer Test Items
