Reflections
The past week dealt with qualitative research, in particular, the use of case studies. Besides the texts we had to read for the pre-theme post, the seminar was, unfortunately, the only source of information this week, so all remaining questions had to be asked there. Still, I feel that I gained more knowledge regarding case studies and their intentions during our discussion.
A case study – next to an e.g. interview, focus group, observation or ethnography – is one type of qualitative research. Since I couldn't really define the term in-depth, the seminar was helpful to clear things up: one passed specific event/scenario/social situation is looked into more deeply (sometimes over a period of time), in order to generalize new knowledge and build a theory where there was no theory before.
A case study – next to an e.g. interview, focus group, observation or ethnography – is one type of qualitative research. Since I couldn't really define the term in-depth, the seminar was helpful to clear things up: one passed specific event/scenario/social situation is looked into more deeply (sometimes over a period of time), in order to generalize new knowledge and build a theory where there was no theory before.
As Ilias pointed out, you create a case study on something where there is no evidence beforehand and no pre-existing theory, because in a case study, you try to set hypotheses or theories, and then go and test them in reality comparing the applicability to other similar events. Moreover, a case study is not defined by its method, since you can either use the qualitative or quantitative methodology.
An interesting sentence was mentioned at the end of the seminar: 'anything goes' in research - which sparked my curiosity for more insights. This term came up in the publication Against Method (1975) by Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend, and as you can imagine, this saying has the potential to split philosophers and scientists alike.
Surprisingly, this all leads back to our first theme of reason. In his works, Feyerabend takes a stand on the role of reason and rationality against a form of unification, which according to him leads to the development of certain rules and norms. As I understand it, he promotes reason as something that should allow irrationality in order to promote progress, as every rule and every methodology is always limited. He does not want to eliminate rules, but he does not want rules to be limited by certain content, because that makes research stop in its tracks. It should always depend on the case itself, which method should be used and thus the method should not be defined by a general rule but by suitability. In addition, he rejects the concept of falsifying a theory, since a theory should not be given up upon just because it is not consistent with all relevant facts.
In the context of case studies, I deduct that you can choose any way of research, the most important thing is just to get more knowledge and improve your understanding.
Gerlee, P., 2014. Philip Gerlee's Research: Anything goes [online]. P-gerlee.blogspot.se. Available: http://p-gerlee.blogspot.se/2014/09/anything-goes.html [Accessed at 17 Oct. 2015].
Sukopp, T., 2007. Anything goes? Paul K. Feyerabend als Elefant im Popperschen Porzellanladen [online]. Opus4.kobv.de. Available: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bamberg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/20991 [Accessed at 17 Oct. 2015].
An interesting sentence was mentioned at the end of the seminar: 'anything goes' in research - which sparked my curiosity for more insights. This term came up in the publication Against Method (1975) by Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend, and as you can imagine, this saying has the potential to split philosophers and scientists alike.
Surprisingly, this all leads back to our first theme of reason. In his works, Feyerabend takes a stand on the role of reason and rationality against a form of unification, which according to him leads to the development of certain rules and norms. As I understand it, he promotes reason as something that should allow irrationality in order to promote progress, as every rule and every methodology is always limited. He does not want to eliminate rules, but he does not want rules to be limited by certain content, because that makes research stop in its tracks. It should always depend on the case itself, which method should be used and thus the method should not be defined by a general rule but by suitability. In addition, he rejects the concept of falsifying a theory, since a theory should not be given up upon just because it is not consistent with all relevant facts.
In the context of case studies, I deduct that you can choose any way of research, the most important thing is just to get more knowledge and improve your understanding.
Gerlee, P., 2014. Philip Gerlee's Research: Anything goes [online]. P-gerlee.blogspot.se. Available: http://p-gerlee.blogspot.se/2014/09/anything-goes.html [Accessed at 17 Oct. 2015].
Sukopp, T., 2007. Anything goes? Paul K. Feyerabend als Elefant im Popperschen Porzellanladen [online]. Opus4.kobv.de. Available: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bamberg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/20991 [Accessed at 17 Oct. 2015].
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI found your post very intresting. I think that the quote "Anything goes" is a good one because we can always get something from studing something, even if the contribution might be small. I really liked that you put some effort in finding the source of the quote. I believe that we often apply to many "rules" which indeed can stop us from doing a better research/investigation into subjects.
Nice work!
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts! ! I agree with you that a case study does not seek out to address specific hypothesis. I think that it helps to enter into an area where you know too little and want to find out more. The main point of a case study is to build a theory and not test theory. I think that you mention you mentioned Feyerabend and his statement that anything is possible in Research is very interesting. Since we did not mention him in our seminar it is always nice to get some more information from other groups. In addition, I like that you draw connections to previous themes as it shows that you have understood the topic very well. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blogpost since it was very easily read and your thoughts and new knowledge clearly shines through. I was quite confused when you said that a case study is a qualitative research but when thinking about it is true since case studies themselves is qualitative even thought they may only use quantitative research methods. I also liked that you discussed that "anything goes" because I've myself thought of this before and often felt that we are becoming so structured in our way of investigating our reality that we miss out on things. Children learn not by organising their investigation according to scientific saying but to the situation itself and I believe we must dare to go back to that since most of the revolutionary theories are formed by using unconventional methods.
Thank you for a great blogpost!
/Maria
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blogpost since it was very easily read and your thoughts and new knowledge clearly shines through. I was quite confused when you said that a case study is a qualitative research but when thinking about it is true since case studies themselves is qualitative even thought they may only use quantitative research methods. I also liked that you discussed that "anything goes" because I've myself thought of this before and often felt that we are becoming so structured in our way of investigating our reality that we miss out on things. Children learn not by organising their investigation according to scientific saying but to the situation itself and I believe we must dare to go back to that since most of the revolutionary theories are formed by using unconventional methods.
Thank you for a great blogpost!
/Maria
Hi! Interesting thoughts on this week's theme! I do disagree with you that a case study is a qualitative method though! A case study is a method which in itself can consist of both qualitative and quantitative methods, so it is neither but rather its own thing.
ReplyDeleteI do like however how you tie this last theme back to the first one, good job!
Hi! Thank you for interesting reflection. You've described what case study is very clearly. I was a bit confusing for me to understand whether case study is method of qualitative research or it independent research method. Now it's clear for me, thank you. Besides, I really like the point that you've mentioned "every rule and every methodology is always limited." It's a big question for discussion, I just want to add that case study is probably gives more freedom to author as it doesn't have any specific rules and requirements, so it allows to get knowledge to build new theory.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteinteresting reflection and good job on using the first theme in this one as well. I do however also disagree that a case study is a qualitative research method. A case study can contain both quantitative and qualitative research methods or only one of them but when I think of case studies I actually think of it as a qualitative method. This might be because most of the case studies I've seen have been mostly qualitative but defining a case study as a qualitative method is the part I find hard to agree with. Other than that it was a nice reflection!
I really enjoyed reading your well structured reflection. It is good to hear that the seminar helped you to get a better understanding about what a case study is. For me the perspective of Feyerabend that anything goes was a very good ending of this course. As you wrote it goes back to our first theme where we talked about reason and how everything we know is more or less limited. Feyerabend points out how important it is to not think to much in a box and broaden your horizon when it comes to solving problems.
ReplyDeleteI found interesting the quote ”anything goes”. I would have liked you to explain it in a few lines. Nonetheless, your explanation of Paul Feyerabend’s point was informative for me because I didn’t know him or his thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAt the end, you link his point with case study by saying that ”the most important thing is to get more knowledge and improve your understanding”, and I found it relevant from you.
Good job!
An interesting reflection which added a lot to my thoughts on case studies. The Feyerabend stand is a slightly different one from what we have discussed. It is an interesting perspective, not clinging on to established notions of methods and instead basing everything freely on the case itself. Using such thinking should be really helpful when doing case studies.
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