نقلا عن: http://www.gslis.uteas.edu/~ssoy/usesuse...htmIntroduction

Case study research ecels at inging us to an understanding of a comple issue or object and can etend eperience or add strength to what is already known through previous research. Case studies emphasize detailed contetual analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their relationships. Researchers have used the case study research method for many years across a variety of disciplines. Social scientists in particular have made wide use of this qualitative research method to eamine contemporary reallife situations and provide the basis for the application of ideas and etension of methods. Researcher Robert K. Yin defines the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its reallife contet when the boundaries between phenomenon and contet are not clearly evident and in which multiple sources of evidence are used Yin p. . Critics of the case study method believe that the study of a small number of cases can offer no grounds for establishing reliability or generality of findings. Others feel that the intense eposure to study of the case biases the findings. Some dismiss case study research as useful only as an eploratory tool. Yet researchers continue to use the case study research method with success in carefully planned and crafted studies of reallife situations issues and problems. Reports on case studies from many disciplines are widely available in the literature. This paper eplains how to use the case study method and then applies the method to an eample case study project designed to eamine how one set of users nonprofit organizations make use of an electronic community network. The study eamines the issue of whether or not the electronic community network is beneficial in some way to nonprofit organizations and what those benefits might be. Many wellknown case study researchers such as Robert E. Stake Helen Simons and Robert K. Yin have written about case study research and suggested techniques for organizing and conducting the research successfully. This introduction to case study research draws upon their work and proposes si steps that should be used: Determine and define the research questions Select the cases and determine data gathering and analysis techniques Prepare to collect the data Collect data in the field Evaluate and analyze the data Prepare the report Step . Determine and Define the Research Questions The first step in case study research is to establish a firm research focus to which the researcher can refer over the course of study of a comple phenomenon or object. The researcher establishes the focus of the study by forming questions about the situation or problem to be studied and determining a purpose for the study. The research object in a case study is often a program an entity a person or a group of people. Each object is likely to be intricately connected to political social historical and personal issues providing wide ranging possibilities for questions and adding compleity to the case study. The researcher investigates the object of the case study in depth using a variety of data gathering methods to produce evidence that leads to understanding of the case and answers the research questions. Case study research generally answers one or more questions which begin with how or why. The questions are targeted to a limited number of events or conditions and their interrelationships. To assist in targeting and formulating the questions researchers conduct a literature review. This review establishes what research has been previously conducted and leads to refined insightful questions about the problem. Careful definition of the questions at the start pinpoints where to look for evidence and helps determine the methods of analysis to be used in the study. The literature review definition of the purpose of the case study and early determination of the potential audience for the final report guide how the study will be designed conducted and publicly reported. Step . Select the Cases and Determine Data Gathering and Analysis Techniques During the design phase of case study research the researcher determines what approaches to use in selecting single or multiple reallife cases to eamine in depth and which instruments and data gathering approaches to use. When using multiple cases each case is treated as a single case. Each case?s conclusions can then be used as information contributing to the whole study but each case remains a single case. Eemplary case studies carefully select cases and carefully eamine the choices available from among many research tools available in order to increase the validity of the study. Careful discrimination at the point of selection also helps erect boundaries around the case. The researcher must determine whether to study

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This type of case study involves two levels of analysis and increases the compleity and amount of data to be gathered and analyzed. A key strength of the case study method involves using multiple sources and techniques in the data gathering process. The researcher determines in advance what evidence to gather and what analysis techniques to use with the data to answer the research questions. Data gathered is normally largely qualitative but it may also be quantitative. Tools to collect data can include surveys interviews documentation review observation and even the collection of physical artifacts. The researcher must use the designated data gathering tools systematically and properly in collecting the evidence. Throughout the design phase researchers must ensure that the study is well constructed to ensure construct validity internal validity eternal validity and reliability. Construct validity requires the researcher to use the correct measures for the concepts being studied. Internal validity especially important with eplanatory or causal studies demonstrates that certain conditions lead to other conditions and requires the use of multiple pieces of evidence from multiple sources to uncover convergent lines of inquiry. The researcher strives to establish a chain of evidence forward and backward. Eternal validity reflects whether or not findings are generalizable beyond the immediate case or cases the more variations in places people and procedures a case study can withstand and still yield the same findings the more eternal validity. Techniques such as crosscase eamination and withincase eamination along with literature review helps ensure eternal validity. Reliability refers to the stability accuracy and precision of measurement. Eemplary case study design ensures that the procedures used are well documented and can be repeated with the same results over and over again. Step . Prepare to Collect the Data Because case study research generates a large amount of data from multiple sources systematic organization of the data is important to prevent the researcher from becoming overwhelmed by the amount of data and to prevent the researcher from losing sight of the original research purpose and questions. Advance preparation assists in handling large amounts of data in a documented and systematic fashion. Researchers prepare databases to assist with categorizing sorting storing and retrieving data for analysis. Eemplary case studies prepare good training programs for investigators establish clear protocols and procedures in advance of investigator field work and conduct a pilot study in advance of moving into the field in order to remove obvious barriers and problems. The investigator training program covers the basic concepts of the study terminology processes and methods and teaches investigators how to properly apply the techniques being used in the study. The program also trains investigators to understand how the gathering of data using multiple techniques strengthens the study by providing opportunities for triangulation during the analysis phase of the study. The program covers protocols for case study research including time deadlines formats for narrative reporting and field notes guidelines for collection of documents and guidelines for field procedures to be used. Investigators need to be good listeners who can hear eactly the words being used by those interviewed. Qualifications for investigators also include being able to ask good questions and interpret answers. Good investigators review documents looking for facts but also read between the lines and pursue collaborative evidence elsewhere when that seems appropriate. Investigators need to be fleible in reallife situations and not feel threatened by unepected change missed appointments or lack of office space. Investigators need to understand the purpose of the study and grasp the issues and must be open to contrary findings. Investigators must also be aware that they are going into the world of real human beings who may be threatened or unsure of what the case study will ing. After investigators are trained the final advance preparation step is to select a pilot site and conduct a pilot test using each data gathering method so that problematic areas can be uncovered and corrected. Researchers need to anticipate key problems and events identify key people prepare letters of introduction establish rules for confidentiality and actively seek opportunities to revisit and revise the research design in order to address and add to the original set of research questions. .

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The researcher contacts the Board of Directors of the community network who are open to the idea of the case study. The researcher also gathers computer generated log data from the network and using this data determines that an indepth study of representative organizations from four categories health care environmental education and religious is feasible. The investigator applies additional selection criteria so that an urbanbased and a ruralbased nonprofit are represented in the study in order to eamine whether urban nonprofits perceive more benefits from community networks than rural organizations. The researcher considers multiple sources of data for this study and selects document eamination the gathering and study of organizational documents such as administrative reports agendas letters minutes and news clippings for each of the organizations. In this case the investigator decides to also conduct openended interviews with key members of each organization using a checklist to guide interviewers during the interview process so that uniformity and consistency can be assured in the data which could include facts opinions and unepected insights. In this case study the researcher cannot employ direct observation as a tool because some of the organizations involved have no office and meet infrequently to conduct business directly related to the electronic community network. The researcher instead decides to survey all Board members of the selected organizations using a questionnaire as a third data gathering tool. Withincase and crosscase analysis of data are selected as analysis techniques. Step . Prepare to Collect the Data The researcher prepares to collect data by first contacting each organization to be studied to gain their cooperation eplain the purpose of the study and assemble key contact information. Since data to be collected and eamined includes organizational documents the researcher states his intent to request copies of these documents and plans for storage classification and retrieval of these items as well as the interview and survey data. The researcher develops a formal investigator training program to include seminar topics on nonprofit organizations and their structures in each of the four categories selected for this study. The training program also includes practice sessions in conducting openended interviews and documenting sources suggested field notes formats and a detailed eplanation of the purpose of the case study. The researcher selects a fifth case as a pilot case and the investigators apply the data gathering tools to the pilot case to determine whether the planned timeline is feasible and whether or not the interview and survey questions are appropriate and effective. Based on the results of the pilot the researcher makes adjustments and assigns investigators particular cases which become their area of epertise in the evaluation and analysis of the data. Step . Collect Data in the Field Investigators first arrange to visit with the Board of Directors of each nonprofit organization as a group and ask for copies of the organization?s mission news clippings ochures and any other written material describing the organization and its purpose. The investigator reviews the purpose of the study with the entire Board schedules individual interview times with as many Board members as can cooperate confirms key contact data and requests that all Board members respond to the written survey which will be mailed later. Investigators take written notes during the interview and record field notes after the interview is completed. The interviews although openended are structured around the research questions defined at the start of the case study. Research Question: Why do nonprofit organization participants use the network? Interview Questions: How did the organization make the decision to place data on the World Wide Web community network? What need was the organization hoping to fulfill? Research Question: How do nonprofit organization participants determine what to place on the electronic community network? Interview Questions: What process was used to select the information that would be used on the network? How is the information kept up to date? Research Question: Do the nonprofit organization participants believe the community network serves a useful purpose in furthering their mission? How? Interview Questions: How does the organization know if the electronic community network is beneficial to the organization? How does the electronic community network further the mission of the organization? What systematic tracking mechanisms eist to determine how many or what types of users are accessing the organization information? The investigator?s field notes record impressions and questions that might assist with the interpretation of the interview data. The investigator makes note of stories told during openended interviews and flags them fo

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