Here are a few key considerations regarding choosing a case from the researcher's family: - It could introduce bias if the researcher is too close to the case. Their perspective may not be fully objective. - Family members may not feel comfortable openly sharing private/sensitive information with the researcher. - The researcher needs to make extra efforts to protect privacy and confidentiality of family members in the study since they are personally known. - On the positive side, the researcher has easier access to detailed firsthand information and context about the family that may be difficult to obtain from an unrelated case. - As long as the researcher is self-aware and takes steps to mitigate bias through methods like triangulation, member-checking,

1. Case Study
FUNDAGÜL ARSLAN

2. WHAT IS A CASE IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES?
«Case is a thing, a single entity, a unit around which there
are boundaries»
A unit of study known as a bounded system (individual
teachers, a classroom or a school)

3. What is a case study?
A qualitative research approach studying a phenomenon
All-encompassing method
Focused on a unit of study, or a bounded system
Ex: Mill’s Study of Educational Change

4. Why is it unique?
More concrete
Tangible and illuminative
Readers can relate
«Epistomology of the particular»

5. Why is it significant?
Answers a descriptive question (What happened in the process of managing
and coping with multiple innovations?)
Or an explanatory question (How do central office personnel, principals and
teachers cope with multiple innovations?)
Studies a process
Provides causal explanations
Proven and well-established technique
Enable students to apply theoretical concepts in real world situations.

6.  ANY EXAMPLES OF A CASE STUDY THAT
YOU CAN THINK OF?

7. Context is all : a qualitative case study of youth mentoring in the inner-
city (by Rana Tasleem)
This project is an extended case study design investigating the mentoring programme of Kids
Company, an innovative and controversial organisation that closed during fieldwork. The study
considers the programme both as a case of the larger category of ‘youth mentoring' as well as a
case in itself – of a unique and situated intervention. Methods employed included participant
observation and interviews with professional staff, as well as the analysis of a sample of
mentoring records documenting the one-year relationship of six mentoring pairs from the
perspective of the mentor. Plans to interview mentoring pairs were curtailed by the unexpected
demise of the organisation, but the data set includes interviews with five new mentors and
mentees… The thesis reflects on both the strengths and weaknesses of the Kids Company
approach to make suggestions for good practice.

8. The Case of the Jamaican Fisherman
Designed for a first- or second-semester Anatomy & Physiology course, this directed case study involves a
48-year-old Jamaican fisherman who suffered a cerebrovascular accident. He was taken to a hospital,
where he stayed for three days before he was discharged to his one-room home in a rural fishing village. His
limited access to the healthcare system and his lack of understanding about his condition led him to spend
the next month in bed. A physical therapist was the first clinician to see him at home. The case describes
her findings and asks students to explain the anatomy, physiology, and cultural conditions that led to his
present situation. The case consists of five sections that ask questions related to cultural competence, the
nervous system, cardiovascular system, muscular system, and respiratory system. Sections can be used
altogether, alone, or in any order or combination to help students apply their knowledge of body systems to
this practical case.

9. The modernization of an Iranian city : the case study of Kermanshah
The notion of the Islamic city evoked in comparison with European cities and their
modernization process and often criticized for its Eurocentric nature, acknowledges the
characteristics’ existence that are shared by traditional cities across the extensive geography,
where Islam is the predominant religion. It is not unusual, therefore, to attribute these
peculiarities to the shared religious framework, although said framework officially didn’t
experience serious modification until twenty centuries, despite the modernization of these
cities. Consequently, this study suggests an indirect approach through the study of the
modernization process of cities in the Islamic world…To explore the broad and wide-spread of
their metamorphosis, it is more enlightening if we study second order cities, rather than
studying the transformations of major capitals such as Cairo, Istanbul or Tehran, where
interventions are more exceptional and more rhetorical. Therefore, this research examines the
Kermanshah city, to understand the link between urban and social transformations due to the
modernization process. Tracing city, historically, from its traditional form, as prototypical of the
so-called Islamic city, to the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979) and after the Islamic revolution in
1979.

10. Investigating the evaluation of higher education in Germany :
a case study of educational science (Erziehungswissenschaft) in
Baden-Württemberg
This thesis is an empirical qualitative case study of the work of an evaluation commission which
was established by the Ministry of Culture, Research and Art in the German state of Baden-
Württemberg in 2003 to undertake a cross-sectional examination of the quality of teaching and
research in universities and teacher training colleges offering courses
in Educational Science (Erziehungswissenschaft). Although much literature on evaluation
methods and models exists, little addresses the minutiae of evaluation work through the eyes of
those doing it. This study therefore aims to augment this knowledge by examining the attitudes,
experiences and difficulties which evaluators face. It contributes to the discourse on evaluation
theory and practice by providing suggestions for what might help to improve decision-making
processes in this particular environment. Informed by phenomenological theory, this exploratory
study also uses decision-making theories as a means of providing knowledge on both individual
and organisational issues which can augment our understanding of how expert commissions
work: the social, political and cultural mechanisms that are involved, and the techniques that
evaluators employ in order to provide institutions with an objective, fair, trustworthy and
reliable evaluation report.

11. Characteristics of a Case Study
Particularistic
Descriptive
Heuristic
May vary by specific diciplines (psychology, antropology etc.)

12. WITH WHICH DISCIPLINES CAN YOU ASSOCIATE
THE FOLLOWING CASE STUDIES?
Abkhasians: The Long Living People of the Caucasus
Exploring Unintentional Racism: The Case of Tim Hanks
The Big Bad Wolf or Symbol of the American Wilderness?
:Gray Wolf Reintroduction in Idaho
 Nature or Nurture: The Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl

13. DESIGNING A CASE STUDY
Determine the research question (who, what, how, why)
Ex: What strategies are being used by small businesses that have effective and viable workplace
wellness programs?
Ex: How do women in a psychology doctoral program describe their decision to return to
school?
Define the case under study (variables under investigation)
Determine the role of theory development in case selection (whether or not to use it)
Determine the theoretical and conceptual framework of the case study
Determine whether a single case study; a multiple case study; or a collective case study is
appropriate.

14. SAMPLE SELECTION
Purposive sampling (selecting the unit of analysis)
Cases that are «information-rich»
Provide information regarding the research problem
Concern for viability leads to screening

15. SCREENING
Checking the reliability of a potential participant (knowledge and experience)
Screening steps:
Review documents about the proposed case study site
Conduct informal interviews with key participants
Determine the reliability of the participants
HOW TO COLLECT DATA?
The same as other qualitative researchers (enquiring, experiencing and examining)
Aim: anwer «how» and «why» questions
Triangulation: more than one method to collect data

16. MULTIPLE CASE STUDY
The same phenomenon, multiple sites
Improving external validity
To prove that an event is not idiosyncratic to one site (ability to generalize?)
Open Society Institute's Step by Step program: an early childhood program in 30 countries
(Central and Eastern Europe). Reform of teacher training systems and early education policies
in partnership with governmental and NGO.
Common phenomenon, different process?
Three Step by Step case studies in the book (Ukraine, Slovakia and Romania)

17. Cross-site analysis strategies:
Unordered meta-matrix (master charts with descriptive data from each site)
Site-order descriptive matrix (ordered meta-matrix based upon critical varible of interest)
Site-ordered predictor-outcome matrix (more explanation and interpretation)
Time ordered meta-matrix (chronology as an organizing variable)
Scatterplots (visual display of data from all sites)
Site-ordered effect matrix (potential cause-effect relation)
Causal models (extend case study analysis)

18. THE EXILE OF MESKHETIAN TURKS TO UZBEKISTAN: CASE STUDY OF THE CHULAGLI
AND ÖZTÜRK FAMILIES
Our topic is the migration of Meskhetian Turks to Uzbekistan: case study of the Chulagli and
Öztürk family. Our point is to present the two different lives of two families who live the
deportation of the Meskhetian Turks from 1944 and how they rebuilt their lives after their
tragedy especially because one of our group mate (Said Chulagli) is a member of the Chulagli
family. It is composed of the different situations that live different members of the family
through time and their situation today. Moreover, it provides a detailed description of the
Fergana events of 1989 by the newspaper of that time.
AN ETHICAL QUESTION: IS IT ETHICAL TO CHOOSE THE CASE FROM THE RESEARCHER’S FAMILY?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?