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Case study and Ethnography research methods in extension education
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Case Study and
Ethnography
Case Study
A method to deeply observe the characteristics of individual unit such as a person, a group or a community, in order to analyse various phenomena in relation to that unit of study
“The study of the instance in action” Stenhouse (1999) states that the task of case
study is to produce reports of experience and to offer evidence, not to deal with generalisation.
Case Study
Empirical enquiry to investigate a contemporary phenomenon in real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (Yin, 2003)
Case studies can be Qualitative or Quantitative
Qualitative case studies focuses on experiential knowledge of a certain case and closely related to the social and political influence
Types of case study Intrinsic case study Stake (2005)Undertaken because of researcher intrinsic interests,
and aims to get deep understanding of a certain case.
Instrumental case studyProvides a base to understand other issues. Usually
this case is a secondary interest of the researcher and used to support other interest.
Multiple or collective case studyInvestigate whether there are similarities or differences
among the cases’ characteristics to get better understanding of particular interests.
Case Study
Data Collection methods Observation Interview Questionnaire Opinionnaire Checklist Analysis of recorded data from news papers,
courts etc,
Case Study
Characteristics of a well constructed case
study
Case Study
Triangulation A process of using multiple perceptions to clarify
meaning, verifying the repeatability of an observation or interpretation.
This principle is necessary to avoid misinterpretation.
Triangulation can be achieved through redundancy of data gathering and procedural challenges to explanations.
Stake (2005)
Case Study
Stages in conducting case study Conceptualizations of the topic. Selecting and emphasize a particular phenomenon,
and deciding the research questions. Collecting all the raw data from interviews,
observations or documents such as program files or reports, articles, and proposals.
Organising, classifying and editing the raw data into an accessible file
Formulates triangulation of observations and develops interpretation.
Selecting an alternative interpretation followed by writing a report in holistic and systematic forms.
Case Study
Strengths It may offer larger details about a particular
phenomenon. For instance, it may include narrative and a specific description about a particular activity, personal relationship or a group interpretation.
The readers of a case study may obtain naturalistic generalizations from personal or vicarious experience. i.e. people can share and understand others’ social experience
Case study provides a holistic interpretation and always refers to a social context.
Case study provides sufficient basal facts for developing a suitable Hypothesis regarding the social unit to be studied
Case Study
Limitations People may think that case study researchers do
not follow systematic procedures and may have biased views that probably influence the findings and the conclusion
The researchers may not be able to cover all issues and offer a scientific generalization because they tend to have limited evidence, not as many as quantitative research
Costly method in terms of time and money Cause-Effect relationship is not established
Case Study
Case studies often rely on subjective data, such as the participants’ statements or the researchers’ observations, because most case studies focus on human experiences. Consequently, data will vary based on the participant’s description, opinion, and feeling.
To avoid subjectivity and to increase the objectivity of data, a researcher should use replicative, falsification and triangulating methods.
Stake (2005)
Case Study
Limitations
Ethnography Hammersley (2006) states that ethnography is a
study at first hand about what people do and say in a particular context.
Method to explore the nature of a certain social phenomenon and it tends to use unstructured data
Ethnographies usually focus on a specific culture its characteristics and all information embedded in it.
Ethnography originally came from anthropology with aims to analyse human’s ways of life (or culture) holistically, relativistically and comparatively.
Ethnography
Ethnography Is a method of field observation or
observation of behaviour in natural setting.
Participant observation, conversation and use of informants to study cultural and social characteristics of primitive people, whose numbers are small and who are geographically and culturally isolated.
Cultural anthropology/ Naturalistic inquiry Ray and Mandal
(2011)
Ethnography
Data collection methods
The ethnographic researchers obtain information about certain socio-cultural phenomena through the members of the society or documents about those phenomena.
Observation and interview are two important data collection methods, which are known as ethnographic fieldwork.
Using earlier written records, (ethno-historic research) Portable audio & video recording devices may rapidly
provide large amounts of data and support researcher in understanding the phenomena of the study
Ethnography
Characteristics of ethnography Researcher creates social relationship with the
participants First-hand observation and participant observation Researchers should stay inside a community of people
being studied for a period of time Long-term involvement and observation are considered
necessary to understand the complexity of people’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours
Ethnographers play important role as research instrument Ethnography involves naturalistic observation Ethnography is an electric approach
Ethnography
Characteristics of ethnography
Ethnographer can make modification to the research questions, design and technique from the beginning until the completion of the study. (interactive-reactive approach)
It is holistic study
Ethnography
Ethnographic fieldwork provides the best opportunity to collect current, reliable, complete and specific data to answer the relevant
It is also considered as the best source of data for comparative study and analysis.
Ethnographer can participate in people’s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions, in fact collecting whatever data available.
The external validity of ethnographic study is generally high
EthnographyStrengths
It investigates only a few cases or one case Findings cannot be generalized to other
social contexts Selecting information that relevant to the
topic of study is depending on the researcher’s argument.
Ethnographer need to make inferences only from what participants do and say during interview
The ethnographer or their informants may fail to maintain neutrality
Ethnography
Limitations
Case Study It does not only
depend on participant-observer data but mainly uses interviews.
Ethnography It may require
certain periods of time in the ‘field’ and emphasize details of observational evidence.
The ethnographer may use an interview as an additional technique to capture whole participant’s perspective.
Case study v/s Ethnography
Case Study The cs researchers
tend to follow ethnographic methods by providing detailed observations about reality and trying to avoid former commitment to any theoretical frameworks
It is strategy of assembling data and drawing interpretation
Ethnography The ethnographers do
not always produce case studies. Moreover, the case study does not have to present direct and detailed observations, but it can be based on any quantitative or qualitative data
As a practice is a method of collecting data
Case study v/s Ethnography
The central difference between ethnography and case study lies in the study’s intention. Ethnography is inward looking, aiming to uncover the tacit knowledge of culture participants.
Case study is outward looking, aiming to delineate the nature of phenomena through detailed investigation of individual cases and their contexts.
Case study v/s Ethnography
Naturalistic inquiry, or ethnography, has its roots in anthropology and sociology and involves long-term exposure to a setting or a group of people. Extensive use of unstructured observations and conversations, documented by detailed field notes form the basis for this type of research.
Purest form of qualitative research Case studies are the preferred strategy when
‘how’ or ‘why’ questions are being posed, when the investigator has little control over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context.
Case study v/s Ethnography
Ethnography is an art of describing a group or culture, case study is an in depth analysis of a particular instance, event, individual, or a group
Ethnography requires participant observation as a data collection method whereas it is not necessary in a case study.
Case study is outward looking while ethnography is inward looking
Ethnography takes a longer time than a case study.
Case study v/s Ethnography
Similarities of case study and ethnography
Non experimental or descriptive research methods
Costly and time consuming
In-depth studies
Subjective biases from researcher
Case study & Ethnography