Case Study in Mass Media Research

1. CASE STUDY
Research Methods

2. Case Study
■ The case study method draws from as many data sources as possible to investigate an
event.
■ Case studies are particularly helpful when a researcher desires to explain or
understand some phenomenon.
■ Some problems with case studies are that they can lack scientific rigor, they can be
time consuming to conduct, and the data they provide can be difficult to generalize
from and to summarize.

3. Definition
■ Yin (1994) defines a case study as an empirical inquiry that uses multiple sources of
evidence to investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, in
which the boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly
evident.
■ Case study research includes both single case and multiple cases.
■ Comparative case study research, frequently used in political science, is an example of
the multiple case study technique.

4. When to conduct?
■ A case study uses as many data sources as possible to systematically investigate
individuals, groups, organizations or events.
■ Case studies are conducted when a researcher needs to understand or explain a
phenomenon.
■ Frequently used in medicine, anthropology, clinical psychology, management science
and history.
■ Eg. Sigmund Freud wrote case studies of his patients

5. Characteristics of case study research
■ Merriam (1988) lists four essential characteristics of case study research:
■ 1. Particularistic: this means that the case study focuses on a particular situation,
event, programme, or phenomenon, making it a good method for studying practical,
real-life problems.
■ 2. Descriptive: The final product of a case study is a detailed description of the topic
under study.

6. Cont…
3. Heuristic (learning or discover something; problem solving using practical method):
A case study helps people to understand what’s being studied.
New interpretations, new perspectives, new meaning, and fresh insights are all goals of a
case study.

7. Cont…
■ 4. Inductive:
■ Most case studies depend on inductive reasoning.
■ Principles and generalizations emerge from an examination of the data. Many cases
studies attempt to discover new relationships rather than verify existing hypotheses.

8. Advantages
■ Obtaining a wealth of information about the research topic.
■ It is particularly advantageous to the researcher who is trying to find clues and ideas
for further research (Simon, 1985).
■ The method can also be used to gather exploratory and descriptive data.

9. Disadvantages
■ Lack of scientific rigor in many studies- biased views influence the findings and
conclusions.
■ The case study is not amendable to generalization.-eg statements about the
frequency of occurrence of a phenomenon in a defined population.

10. How to conduct a case study?
■ Five distinct stages:
■ Design
■ Pilot study
■ Data collection
■ Data analysis
■ report writing

11. Design
■ FIRST DESIGN-What to ask.
■ How and why
■ A clear research question
■ SECOND DESIGN- WHATTOANALYZE
■ What constitutes a case? Eg an individual, or several individual.
■ Single or multiple case study format?
■ Specific programme?
■ What to use as the unit of analysis is the available research literature
■ Compare the findings with the results of previous research

12. Pilot study
■ Before pilot study- follow a protocol- data gatherings intruments., gaining access,
schedule of data collection.
■ A pilot study is used to refine both the research design and the field procedures.
■ Pilot study brings a scope for changes in the design. Eg unforeseen variables

13. Data collection
■ At least four sources of data can be used in case studies.
■ Documents- agendas, memos, records, brochures, posters and so on
■ Interview- survey or intensive interview
■ Observation/participation- note making, observation, participate
■ Physical artifact- tool, furniture, printout, any physical material related to the study
Most research use multiple sources of data.
Traingulation- increase reliability and validity of the study (Rubin, 1984).
Rated higher than those relied on a single source (Yin, Bateman & Moore, 1983).

14. DataAnalysis
■ Yin (1994) suggests three broad analytic strategies:
■ Pattern matching
■ Explanation building
■ Time series

15. Pattern Matching strategies
■ Empirically based pattern is compared with one or more predicted patterns.
■ For instance, suppose a newspaper is about to initiate a new management tool:
■ Regular meetings between top management and reporters, excluding editors.

16. CONT…
■ Based on an organizational theory, a researcher might predict certain outcomes-
namely, more stress between editors and reporters, increased productivity, and
weakened supervisory links.
■ If analysis of the case study data indicates that these results do in fact occur, some
conclusions about the management change can be made.
■ If the predicted pattern does not match the actual one, the initial study propositions
have to be questioned.

17. Explanation building
■ Research tries to construct an explanation about the case by making statements
about the cause or causes of the phenomenon under study.
■ An investigator drafts an initial theoretical statement, revises the statement, analyses
a second comparable case, and repeats this process as many times as necessary.
■ Let’s assume, Lack of managerial expertise – failing to generate a profit
■ But other factors could also be the reason.

18. Time series analysis
■ The investigator tries to compare a series of data points to some theoretical trend that
was predicted before the research or to some alternative trend.
■ For instance, several cities have experienced newspaper strikes, a case study
investigator might generate predictions about the changes in information-seeking
behaviours of residents in these communities and conduct a case study to see whether
these predictions are supported.

19. Report writing
■ It can follow the traditional research study format- problem, methods, findings, and
discussions.
■ Chronological arrangement
■ Comparative perspective in comparative case studies
■ But this also determined by the audience of the report
■ A case report for policy makers is written in a style different from one to be published
in a scholarly journal.

20. Example 1
■ Crabtree and Malhotra (2000) interviewed business personnel, observed practices at a
commercialTV operation, monitored the content of commercialTV, and examined
organizational documents.

21. Example 2
■ Tovares (200) examined the development of Latino USA, a news programme about
Latino issues.
■ His case study involved personal interviews with the staff, direct observation, and
examination of archival materials.

22. Example 3
■ Barker-Plummer (2002) conducted a case study that analyzed the resource
mobilization and the media access of the NationalOrganization ofWomen (NOW).
■ Her main data sources were NOW’s archives and a content analysis of NOW’s
coverage in the NewYorkTimes.

23. Reference
■ Wimmer & Dominick. Mass Media Research:An Introduction