Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research - Comments

1.
Hi,

I think that you have written a good explanation of the purposes/benefits of a case study. Furthermore I had not thought about case studies being “cyclical” before, and this was an interesting perspective.I agree with your thoughts on what a case study is. And I think that you have made a good point in that a case study can be used in order to do research in an “unknown field”. I also interpreted this to be one of the more characteristic benefits of a case study.

Great reflection, with a clear explanation on case studies!

2.
Hi,

I think that you have written an interesting reflection. I like that you make correlations in between themes. For example by discussing a correlation between qualitative research methods and user experience testing that you mention in your blog post for Theme 5.

I had not thought about making this comparison before. To add to this discussion: I agree that they are similar in the sense that they both take the participants own answers as feedback to help them test or build a theory.

Interesting reflection, with a good summary of what was discussed during the seminar!

3.
Hi,

I think that you have summarized case studies well by saying that they are targeting on understanding a phenomena instead of explaining a phenomena.

To add to your discussion: 

I agree with that a case study can help form a hypothesis that is being used in further research. When it comes to the goals of conducting a case study, I had interpreted it to be to make observations in a certain setting to get a deeper understanding of how that setting works. In other words I had interpreted that the problem or question that might rise from making a case study would be a result of the study, yet not the goal or meaning behind it. So I found this part of your reflection very interesting and it presented a new perspective to me.

Great reflection with good explanations of what you have learnt from the seminar!

4.
Hi,

I think that you have written a really interesting summary of the seminar.

To add to your discussion: At the seminar I attended we also, in a smaller group, discussed how to choose participants for a study. We discussed how to make generalisations in a study, and if the participants could have an effect on the result. We discussed that in a qualitative study all participants have different experiences and different perceptions, so depending on which participants are a part of a study they can affect the generalisations.

Great reflection with really interesting explanations from the seminar!

5.
Hi,

I think that you have written a really interesting reflection. I liked that you for example discuss objectivity in scientific research.

To add to your discussion: I think that you are right in that all studies require a more or less defined case in order to do research. 

I interpret the difference between a case study to for example a qualitative research study to be that a case study focuses on choosing a setting, or case, to make observations in. A qualitative method on the other hand I interpret to focus on having a hypothesis or research question that will help define the setting, or case, in which this study will take place.

Great reflection with interesting discussions!