This week, the theme has been qualitative research and case studies. I read two articles which I’ve described in my pre-post. I worked from the questions we got from the assignment and answered them after what I found in the articles. At the end of the week, I attended a seminar and discussed the questions.
So what have I learned this week? Did I come to any new conclusions?
Yes and no. As I wrote last week, these methods are not new to me and therefore not as eye-opening. I realized though, that qualitative data often is transferred into quantitative data to be able to handle it and make generalizations. I’ve also been thinking about how convenient quantitative data is, but how qualitative data can be more interesting as a reader. This is my personal opinion, even though I’m a big fan of statistics it’s interesting to read how people express themselves and their opinion. People are complex.
So this week we’ve talked about how the combination of qualitative and quantitative is fruitful, and I think that’s the most common approach when doing a study. One is not better than the other, they are useful in different ways. The combination is often used in case studies. I think the seminar provided a better understanding of case studies in general, as I understand it now a case study is to investigate specific situations to gain knowledge. Therefore, a case study can consist of only one participant, for example if you study someone with a rare disease. This is different from most studies we’ve talked about previously since we often emphasize on collecting a lot of data to ensure the results that in turn strengthens a theory. A case study can be more difficult to redo as well. If you investigate in a catastrophy situation, as the study I read for this seminar did, you can't really go back and re-live the situation. The material you collected during the period is what you have.
Hi! Thank you for a really good blog post, I enjoyed it a lot! It feels like you have understood the theme and the way you are describing it is interesting. The discussion about quantitative and qualitative methods in a case study was something that we discussed during our seminar and I that is a subject that I would like to discuss more. During the seminar Ilias told us that in case studies you don't use hypothesis, which I didn't know earlier.
SvaraRaderaThe paper I read also used an interview as a qualitative method. I like that you point out the disadvantage that an interview can easily be done wrong. You are correct in saying that the interviewer has an important task and that he or she has to be skilled in asking the correct questions without interrupting the person, not leaving out important details and he or she has to still follow the general interview structure.
SvaraRaderaBut I want to add something to your definition of a case study. I don’t think that it is a research method as quantitative and qualitative methods. Because a case study rather makes us of these methods. Therefore I would call it a research strategy.
Hi!
SvaraRaderaIt would be interesting to hear you elaborate more on what it was that you realized to state the notion that “qualitative data is often transferred into quantitative data”! I do see your point, but it would be interesting to see your train of thought for this statement. It certainly seems as if you’ve grasped the content of the past couple of week’s themes related to certain specifics of research. Furthermore, the example of studying someone with a rare disease as a case study is a great one. Not only does it point toward the facts you mention on what a case study is defined as - it also points toward the nature of case studies often being conducted on novel events. As with the case study on the person with a rare disease, researching said disease might yield conclusions which can be used to create theories of the human body that speak for not only those with that disease, but for all of us. Thanks for a great final post-reflection!
Your point about the convenience of quantitative v.s. the engagement of qualitative data is really interesting, and I had a similar thought back during the quantitative methods theme. This is in a way a problem in that it makes the current state of research unavailable to the uninitiated. A lot of research papers include significant amounts of qualitative data, and they can be hard to grasp for a novice.
SvaraRaderaI like your assessment of your understanding about quantitative and qualitative methods and how they can be complementary.
SvaraRaderaYou also well understand what a case study is by underlying the fact that researchers investigate specific situations in order to gain knowledge. Indeed, a case study is more a strategy than a method to gain knowledge about a field that you don’t know. In this way, all the collected data are used to build a theory.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Rebecka!
SvaraRaderaInteresting thoughts on this week's theme! I like your view on case studies which contains what was said during my seminar. I think one should be careful when comparing case studies and qualitative/quantitative studies since their applications are very different. A case study is not conducted to confirm a theory, rather to show if there is a possibility that a theory can even be hypothesized.
Hi!
SvaraRaderaIt's been interesting reading your reflection. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in a case study is something that was not discussed during our seminar. Very interesting to read about. I do believe that they are very useful toI would like to add that I don't believe it is comparable to a quantitative or qualitative method but more as a strategy approach for a research.
Keep it up!
Hi!
SvaraRaderaThanks for a good and well-conducted analysis of the theme 6. I have, as you, also read this before so it was not an eye-opener in this case. I agree with you about your conclusion concerning the qualitative data are transformed into quantitative data in many cases, very interesting!
/Paul
Hi! I also found it interesting to see some specific software that codes qualitative data quantitatively. I was kind of confused whether this is the only way to get a credible conclusion in qualitative research because statistics always looks cooler and more reliable. While quantitative data can cover a wide scope of issues but only superficially, qualitative data can explore narrowly-defined issues in greater depth, building a complete picture of the issue being studied. It is a shame that qualitative data is often undervalued just because it doesn’t generally result in a simple percentage or handy pie chart. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
SvaraRadera