Understanding Complex Resource
Management Issues in their Real World
Context:
Case Study Approaches to Research
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Workshop Objectives
• Become familiar with the utility and
limitations of case study research
• Become familiar with the design,
implementation, and analysis of a case study
• Practice designing a case study using a real
world example
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Workshop Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Asking effective research questions
Matching methods to questions
What is a case study?
Case study design exercise
Data analysis
Generalization, case quality, and other issues
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Workshop Programme
Wednesday, June 13, Morning
8:30 Introductions, Learning objectives, course schedule
Asking effective research questions
Matching methods to questions
What is a case study?
Case study components
10:00 Break
Case study design
Background on nursery case study exercise
Preparation for field exercise
12:00 Lunch
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Workshop Programme
Wednesday, June 13, Afternoon
1:00 Transport to Inopacan, Leyte
Tour nursery
Discussion with nursery project participants
3:00 Return to campus
Meet with participants from second nursery project
Discussion
5:00 Adjourn
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Workshop Programme
Thursday, June 14, Morning
8:30 Preparation for group presentations
Groups assemble case study plans
10:30 Break
Group presentations
Discussion
12:30 Lunch
Tuesday Afternoon
1:30 Interviews and field notes
Data analysis, Coding
3:00 Break
Generalizing from case studies
Judging case study design quality
Questions, comments, discussion
5:30 Adjourn
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Asking Effective Research Questions
1. Why is it important?
2. Who cares (or should care) about the
question?
3. What body of theory will it contribute to?
4. Has it been asked before?
5. Can it be answered with the time, expertise,
and resources available?
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Matching Research Approach to Questions
1. Write a one-sentence research question
relevant to your work or interests.
2. What data would be required?
3. What disciplines? Types of knowledge?
4. What research approach would be
appropriate? What specific methods?
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Fig. 1. A simplified social science research approach decision tree.
Research Question?
Yes
Done
Existing Data Adequate?
No
● Generate Hypotheses
● Explain Relationships
● Depth
Principle Purpose?
● Test Hypotheses
● Estimate Parameters
● Breadth
Primary Approach:
Qualitative
Primary Approach:
Survey
Scale of Target
Population
Scale of Target
Population
Rel.
Small
Ethnographic
Methods
Rel.
Large
Structured
Group
Check Results With Survey Data
Rel.
Small
Door-to-Door
Rel.
Large
Telephone,
Mail
Check Results With Qualitative Data
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
• Deductive reasoning: The process of
reasoning from general principles to
particular examples.
• Inductive reasoning: The process of
reasoning from particular examples to general
principles.
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Table 2. Partial, Illustrative List of Social Science Research Methodologies
Method
Application
Limitations
Secondary Data
Historical
Census
Previous research
Provide context and
background for any social
research endeavor
Availability and relevance
of existing data
Ethnographic
Participant observation
Case study
Oral history
Key informant
Explain experience and
values of specific target
population, identify
relationships, understand
issues in context
Time requirement, limited
capacity to generalize, lack
of formal analytical
procedures
Structured Group
Focus group
Nominal group
Delphi
Establish problem’s
boundaries and topics for
further research
Limited capacity to
generalize
Survey
Telephone
Mail
Door to door
Estimate general
parameters of large
population, rigorous
statistical analysis
A priori knowledge
required, limited capacity to
explain, declining response
rates
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Table 1. Comparison of Qualitative and Standardized
Questionnaire Survey Methodologies (from Bliss and Martin 1989)
Methodology
Qualitative
Standardized Survey
Purpose
Describe and explain processes and Describe, estimate
relationships, generate hypotheses population parameters, test
hypotheses
Design
Inductive, flexible
Deductive, rigid
Sample
Selective
Random
Questions
Informant-driven,
Why? What? How?
Predetermined,
How many/much?
Unit of analysis
Individual, case
Trait
Data
Multiple instruments
Single instrument
Analysis
Uncodified
Formal
Results
Depth, particulars
Breadth, generalizations
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Research Syndromes
•
•
•
•
Best Available Data
The Hammer and the Nail
The Streetlight Syndrome
Excessive Expertise
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Case Study Definition
“Case study is a strategy for doing research
which involves an empirical investigation of a
particular contemporary phenomenon with its
real life context using multiple sources of
evidence.”
Yin, 1981
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Case Study Components
•
•
•
•
•
Strategy
Empirical investigation
A particular contemporary phenomenon
Within its real life context
Using multiple sources of evidence
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Triangulation
Key informant interviews
Literature
Census data
Content analysis of
newspapers
Household survey
Ecological inventory data
GIS analysis
Historical accounts
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Designing the Case Study
1. What is the phenomenon being studied?
Define the case – What are the boundaries?
2. What are the research questions?
3. Who are the key players?
4. What are the key social, economic,
ecological, political factors? (Describe the
context).
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
5.
6.
7.
8.
What data will be required?
How will data be collected?
How will data be analyzed?
What will be the utility of study results?
For whom?
9. How will study results be disseminated?
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Questions to Ponder
• What’s going on here?
• What is this an example of ? What does this
illustrate?
• Who are we hearing from?
• Who aren’t we hearing from?
• Who stands to gain?
• Who stands to lose?
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Generalizing from Case Studies
• Statistical generalization:
describing a population
based upon a sample.
• Theoretical (analytical)
generalization: describing
a phenomenon based upon
a case.
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Data Analysis
•
•
•
•
•
•
Data management
To record or not to record
Transcribing interviews
Coding
Pattern recognition
Writing as analysis
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Themes
or
Networks
Coding Text
Increasing Abstraction
“Selective Coding”
Families
“Axial Coding”
“Open Coding”
Interview Text
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Theme
Increasing abstraction
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Coded text
• Director of community organization on community
forestry:
• “I want the rural communities to be seen as the
stewards of the public lands that surround them. I
don’t want us to be seen as loggers, rapers, pillagers,
grazers, you know, cow shitters. Whatever is that
we’re perceived to be now. Because I believe we have
the knowledge and the ability, if we’re allowed, to
stay on the landscape, to steward those lands in a
way that the public will be proud of for generations
to come and I know that’s the motivation. Because
when we talk about community forestry, we talk
about management for the next generation.”
Family forest owner on oak conservation:
“I would hate to see the oaks disappear.
Maybe on my south hillside here where I
have a lot of oaks I should just let them
grow. The oaks tend to grow up and not
shade like the maples do. Douglas-fir grows
right up through them . . .
I like the diversity. I certainly would not
clean out all the oaks. I mean, three or four
big logs, I might sell those for a good price,
but the main thing is to leave other oaks
coming along so that in 50 years there’s
another big stand. “
Judging Case Study Design Quality
(after Yin 2003).
Tests
Case Study Tactic
Construct validity
•Multiple data sources
•Chain of evidence
•Informant review
Internal validity
•Pattern matching
•Rival explanations
•Logic models
External validity
•Theory – base (single cases)
•Replication logic (multiple cases)
Reliability
•Case study protocol
•Database
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University
Case Study Research References
Ragin, Charles C., and Howard S. Becker, eds. 1992. What is a case?
Exploring the foundations of social inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Robson, Colin. 2002. Real World Research, second ed. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing. 599 p.
Stake, Robert E. 1995. The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications. 173 p.
Yin, Robert K. 2003. Case Study Research, Design and Methods third ed..
Applied Social Research Methods Series Vol. 5. London: Sage
Publications. 179 p.
Yin, Robert K. 2003. Applications of case study research, Second Edition.
Applied Social Research Methods Series, Vol. 34. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications. 173 p.
Yin, Robert K. 2004. The case study anthology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications. 271 p.
Case Study Workshop, 2007
John C. Bliss, Oregon State University