Case study design
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A presentation about case study design of research.
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Case study design
- 2. Essential Components https://unsplash.com Strengths Challenges Limitations EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Role of the researcher Assumptions Sample Questions
- 3. https://unsplash.com/ EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Defined: A description of a case that identifies themes, issues, or specific situations that are studied in each case, and concludes with the descriptions and themes or issues that were found through the examination of the case (Creswell, 2013).
- 4. Essential Components https://unsplash.com EdwardsCPSY7108-5 • Develop in-depth description and analysis of a case • Providing In-depth understanding of case • Draws from psychology, law, political science and medicine • Studying an event, program, activity, or more than one individual (Creswell, 2013, p. 104).
- 7. https://unsplash.com EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Assumptions The author’s opinion The reader’s interpretation
- 8. https://unsplash.com/ EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Case Study Design: Limitations Getting people to read it Subjectivity Time Skill level of author Skill level of reader
- 9. https://unsplash.com EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Role of Researcher Ethical Considerations: Subjectivity
- 10. https://unsplash.com EdwardsCPSY7108-5 Sample Questions: Toxic Leadership 1) Do expert leaders in the field recognize toxic leadership, and does its existence drive a negative consequence to an organization? 3) Is having a trusted leader rather than a toxic leader of benefit to reduce certain types of organizational conflict? 2) Can toxic leadership be eradicated through the use of certain types of leadership such as the transformational leadership style?
- 13. References Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among the five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications. Cruickshank, A., & Collins, D. (2015). Illuminating and Applying “The Dark Side”: Insights From Elite Team Leaders. Journal Of Applied Sport Psychology, 27(3), 249-267. Retrieved 12 Apr 2017 from http://proxy1.ncu.edu De Clercq, D., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2017). Overcoming the dark side of task conflict: Buffering roles of transformational leadership, tenacity, and passion for work. European Management Journal, 3578-90. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2016.06.008 Rotheram, M., Maynard, I., & Rogers, A. (2016). Case Study 6: Using an integrated sport/clinical psychology approach to reduce anxiety and facilitate training adherence. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, 12(2), 74-80. Retrieved 12 Apr 2017 from http://proxy1.ncu.edu Wasylyshyn, K. M. (2015). The trusted leadership advisor: Another view from the bridge between business and psychology. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice And Research, 67(4), 279-297. doi:10.1037/cpb0000050 Zilio, D. (2016). On the autonomy of psychology from neuroscience: A case study of Skinner’s radical behaviorism and behavior analysis. Review Of General Psychology, 20(2), 155-170. doi:10.1037/gpr0000067 EdwardsCPSY7108-5
Editor's Notes
- Hello everyone! I hope you are having a qualitatively pleasant day. In fact, it is my deepest hope that your life for this day could make for the perfect case study as to what one would call a happy life. Too cheesy? It isn't going to get any better, so get ready! Just kidding, it gets better, but there is a cost for this instruction. Beyond your TA you must pay me in attention. I realize this is a hefty cost considering the worth of it, but if you pay me, then I promise that you will learn something, even if that something is not about today's topic. You undergraduate students will one day be in my place one day having to give instructions like this, and so at the very least, you can marvel that is the art of my PowerPoint presentation. Some have criticized it as being difficult to read sometimes, and that's because I want you focused on me. My visual aids are just eye candy to keep your mind energized, but the actual information will be spewing forth from my mouth. It is your ears, not your eyes that need to be focused on what is to be said today. If you are able to do that I promise you will walk away with a better understanding of what a case study is and how it can be used.
- Here it is in all of its glory. We will begin today with looking at the definition of the word case study. That will lead us to understand some of the essential components that it is comprised of, and start us off with a baseline as to what we will be talking about. We will talk about what makes it strong, and why it is hung around all these years. We will then talk about the challenges or weaknesses to it. There are some assumptions that one must accept to utilize this method, and we will review that in detail. That examination will reveal some limitations, as some of those assumptions might reduce objectivity. We will then look at the role of the researcher and some of the ethical considerations one must undertake for this design method. Finally, based on a research project I am working on for my dissertation, we will examine some sample questions. Those questions will be in regards to toxic leadership, which is the focus of my research. It is my hope that from that examination you will be able to generate some of your own ideas and how to relate them to your own research that I hope you undertake one day. Finally, we will, of course, wrap up with a summary, and then there will be time for questions. Let move on!
- A wise philosophy once said before we can discuss something we must define what we will be discussing. Well actually I am just quoting a friend of mine on Google+, a social media website, but he is working on a degree in philosophy, so sort of. In any case, I believe he is correct. I happen to be married to a foreign-born spouse, and can personally attest to the fact that too often people argue because they are not talking about the same topic. To alleviate that confusion, let's recognize this clear cut definition of what we are talking about when we discuss this particular design. It might not be a universally accepted version, but for the purposes of today, this is what we will be accepting as the universal definition. For the purposes of this lesson, we need to offer a definition that will lead to a better understanding of the concept we are attempting to learn. We now are all on the same page hopefully. A case study is taking in all of the events of a particular situation, examining it, and then producing observations about the case i.e. the themes, etc. (Creswell, 2013). Would have it been easier if I just said a case study is the study of a case? That's too easy…this definition is more fitting to the actual concept.
- Here we can begin to think of the steps for performing a case study. It is going to be a deep dive into a particular topic. For instance, some believe that neuroscience is sort of taking away from the autonomy of psychology (Zilio, 2016). Right there you can see a subject has been chosen. This is the first step in conducting a case study, chose the topic that will be explored (Creswell, 2013). Then the process becomes a matter of providing an understanding of the case. In the example, I explain to you here that is a matter of describing what the author means in regards to the possibility that psychology will be completely dissolved or what one may say be absorbed by neuroscience (Zilio, 2016). We can see how that already draws from psychology and is not inherently a part of those other topics that are taken from in a qualitative case study. We can also see that intent is an important aspect (Creswell, 2013). The purpose of the example here is in making a case for why that may be a bad thing, allowing neuroscience to absorb all of what we have come to know about psychology (Zilio, 2016). Apparently, to carry this out, it would require that final component of studying it exhaustively so that you can write intelligently about the subject.
- I hate to be so short here because there could be many other strengths mentioned, but this is my thought. It is a good exercise by the researcher, it informs researchers in the field about a topic, it drives interests of those researching in the field, it brings attention to a particular subject, and all that really drives us to this one single fact of how it is a sole source for all of that. In the example, we used before it was being used as a method of bringing all the work of B.F. Skinner, a renowned behavioral psychologist, to light and how it shouldn't be simply dismissed in the face of discoveries in neuroscience (Zilio, 2016). However, in other instances, it is simply to center focus on a particular fact that has been found through multiple research efforts. For example, how is clinical psychology as a whole telling us to approach the topic of reducing anxiety to facilitate training adherence (Rotheram, Maynard, & Rogers, 2016)? Good question, right? That would be a broad topic that one can now gain a better insight into by reading this one single document. That is by far the greatest strength of a case study. Bringing together multiple ‘things' and putting them into one source as a record of understanding that ‘thing.'
- Again, I am going to be very short here about the challenges, because although one could dream up a few, there really is this single problem that trumps all. That challenge is in figuring out what the case study will be about (Creswell, 2013). That example before about anxiety and training adherence, the authors of that case study found the first challenge in deciding to take a medical or systematic approach (Rotheram, et al., 2016). That should tell you right there this is the greatest challenge when it is already so prominently and specifically mentioned in a case study. It is actually difficult to solidify the direction in which to go in for each case study. Remember the strength we just discussed, it has to be a single source of something. It can be a source of multiple things into a single document, but it is always for the purpose of bringing everything together into a single idea or a series of ideas that one can conclude from the examination. Once you decide to go with case study, you have to then answer each of these questions, but as you do it will drive changes to focus. You may have thought one subject led to another, but when you get into the studying of it, there may not have been a connection. That is something to highlight in the case study, that there was not a connection.
- Ok, so let's go back to what a case study is to examine these two assumptions one must make when both conducting a case study, and reading one. It is a description of a topic that has been derived from multiple sources to create a single source (Creswell, 2013). What is that story derived from? You say…various sources, but who is gathering it? An author or multiple authors. That is to say that we are first dealing with the assumptions of people, the authors. In the first example of a case study I mentioned, we already know the assumption the author was going on. That author believes that neuroscience is taking over and that we psychologists should not forget about the importance of what people like B.F. Skinner revealed in psychology (Zilio, 2016). Right away there is an assumption by the author that this is an actual issue. Is that an issue? Uh oh, now we see another assumption, and that is the reader. It is up to the reader to assume that there is and that the topic is in need of learning about. The reader is also considering that the author has presented all the evidence. The approaches to reducing anxiety to help aid in the facilitation of training efforts are all contained in a single document (Rotheram, et al., 2016)? You are either assuming that is true, or that at the very least the author is attempting to meet that goal.
- The first limitation if you ask me is in getting people to read it. Remember one of the purposes of a case study is in bring something to light, like the fact that behavioral psychology has given us some useful insights over the years, and they shouldn't be dismissed right away because neuroscience reveals something (Zilio, 2016). If you wanted to make that case and no one in your field of study reads it, well…not going to be very effective. So where do you publish it? Another limitation that ties in there with that first one. Finding the journal article or magazine or whatever that gets to the audience, you intend it to get to. Anyway, that's my opinion the first limitation. Next is subjectivity, but we will discuss that a bit further on the next slide. Just note that we are talking about the author's subjectivity and the readers. Time is an issue. The authors of the case study on anxiety do not have an unlimited amount of time to put this thing together (Rotheram, et al., 2016). It has to be done and published to have an influence now, and so they can move forward. Also, the author's ability to get the point across is important, and the reader's ability to understand what is put across. If there is not a valid argument being made to keep B.F. Skinner's ideas around then the reader may not be able to pick up on it (Zilio, 2016). It is a significant concern, especially now as we begin to look at some ethical concerns.
- Here I am being too short. However, I really want to bring the root cause of most issues of ethical concern when thinking about a case study. This is not all inclusive, and many of the ethical concerns would be highlighted while planning to execute this method of design. Like for instance, in studying methods of reducing anxiety there would be lots of consideration towards the participants of that study, but in the other example here there is less of a concern with direct influence of any participants (Rotheram, et al., 2016; Zilio, 2016). In other words, most concerns will be directly involved with that particular subject i.e. they are unique to each situation. For instance, one author may have to be concerned with the total outcome of what they are trying to get across may have on the field of study as a whole. It will be through the subjectivity of the author that staving off advances of neuroscience might do to the field, that is the opinion of one author, but it may not be the step in the right direction (Zilio, 2016). Who is to know? It is subjective from the author's point of view and should be overserved with an appropriate level of skepticism. Then you have the subjectivity of the reader. How are they going to interpret it, and act one it? It is up to their role as to how that may be influenced, but it is again based on their point of view, making it subjective as well. We see then that subjectivity is really at the root of ethical concerns with case studies.
- Last but certainly not least, let's review three journal articles, and see if we can generate some sample questions that can be asked in regards to a topic I am researching toxic leadership. Toxic leadership is a description of a particular type of leader enacts certain behaviors that erode an organization over time. Now we need to find case studies that may involve leadership and those qualities that undermine an organization. First, then we find an article that is attempting to bring to light insights from elite team leaders, and how what is termed ‘dark psychology,' a subject concerning narcissism and other traits, can be illuminated altogether or applied in a beneficial manner (Cruickshank, & Collins, 2015). Ok, so we see that the toxic leader may be one that elicits behaviors in tune with dark psychology. Next, we read an article about how to overcome task conflict through transformational leadership, which is just a particular type of leadership, tenacity, meaning how aggressive someone is, and passion for work (De Clercq & Belausteguigoitia, 2017). Here we might be seeing a method for alleviating the adverse aspect of a toxic leader. Finally, one could then read about how having a trusted leadership advisor, what one could regard as the opposite of the toxic leader, to see what benefits exist when trust is present Wasylyshyn, 2015). Here one may be able to reveal from the opposite of a toxic leader those characteristics that may be in opposition to how to positively influence an organization. From the examination of these three articles, we get these sample questions. Now you should be able to see how then a case study on toxic leadership can take shape. It is driven by the research that is already out there, and all of those concepts are pieced together to form one case study.
- In summary, first, we defined it. It is a description that identifies themes, issues, or specific situations, and highlights what is found during the examination. We looked at the essential components of the case study design and explained how these components fit within the overall framework of this design. It is the development of an in-depth description and analysis, provides a comprehensive understanding of a case, is generally drawn from psychology, law, political science, and medicine, and involves the studying of an event, program, activity or more than one person. Then we identified the strengths, or strength in this case as being a single source document, challenges, the who, what, when, and why questions, assumptions of both the author and reader and limitations, which includes readership, subjectivity, time, skill level of the author and reader of using a case study design. We briefly talked about the role of the researcher in this qualitative design method, and the reader, and how subjectivity is the larger ethical concern at least strategically speaking. Finally, we generated some sample research questions based on the topic of toxic leadership, which was based on three articles found on topics relating to it. That pretty much wraps up this lesson, so now there is only one last step. *change slide.
- That last step is your questions, does anyone have any? Feel free to stay after if you do not want to ask in this group setting. Thank you for listening.