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Case Study and Ethnography
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Case study and Ethnography

Jan 27, 2015

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Education

Balaraj BL

Case study and Ethnography research methods in extension education
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Page 1: Case study and Ethnography

Case Study and

Ethnography

Page 2: 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.

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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

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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

Page 5: Case study and Ethnography

Data Collection methods Observation Interview Questionnaire Opinionnaire Checklist Analysis of recorded data from news papers,

courts etc,

Case Study

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Characteristics of a well constructed case

study

Case Study

Page 7: Case study and Ethnography

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Page 20: Case study and 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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