LECTURE 5

Case study
 Compulsory Readings
Bassey, M. 2009, Case Study Research in Educational Settings,
Glasgow: McGraw-Hill (P. 22-36)
Johnson, D.M. Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning.
London: Longman (Chapter 4)
Nunan, D. 1992. Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge:
CUP. (Chapter 4)
McDonough, J. & S. McDonough, 2001, Research Methods for English
Language Teachers, London: Arnold (P. 91-136; 203-218)
Stake, E.R. 1995, The Art of Case Study Research, CA: SAGE
Publications.
Wallace, M.J., 2001, Action Research for Language Teachers,
Cambridge: CUP
Reed, A.J.S. & V.E. Bergerman, 2005, A Guide to Observation,
Participation, and Reflection in the Classroom, Boston:
McGraw Hill
Wisker, G. 2001, The Postgraduate Research Handbook, New York:
Palgrave
Tien H.L. 2019, Case Study Research through a Love Poem, VNU
Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol 35 No 5 (2019)
https://js.vnu.edu.vn/FS/issue/view/538
 What is case study?
• A case:
- A unit of analysis: a learner, a teacher, a class, a school, an
agency, an institution etc.
- A single entity usually exists in its naturally occurring
environment
• Case study: the study of one case
 Definitions of case study
• A case study is a study of a ‘bounded system’
emphasizing the unity and wholeness of that system,
but confiding the attention to those aspects that are
relevant to the research problem at the time (Stake
1988)
• A case study is a study which focuses holistically on
an entity (Johnson 1992)
• A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context;
when the boundaries between phenomenon and
context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple
sources of evidence are used. (Yin 1984)
• A case study is an exploration of a "bounded
system" or a case over time through detailed, in-
depth data collection involving multiple sources of
information rich in context.
http://labweb.education.wisc.edu/cni916/def_case.htm
http://writing.colostate.edu/references/research/glos
sary/index.cfm#case_study

• A case study is a collection and presentation of

detailed information about a particular participant or
small group, frequently including the accounts of
subjects themselves.

http://writing.colostate.edu/references/research/glossary/ind
ex.cfm#case_study
 Types of Case Study
Four main ways of classifying case studies:
1. Yin’s (1984)
2. Merriam’s (1988)
3. Stenhouse’s (1985)
4. Stake’s (1994)

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 Types of Case Study
1. Yin’s ( 1984 ) classification in terms of their outcomes:

1. Exploratory As a pilot to other studies or research

questions
2. Descriptive Providing narrative accounts

3. Explanatory Testing theories

Source: Research Method in Education

(Cohen, L; Manion, L & Morrison, K, 2003)

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 Types of Case Study
2. Merriam’s (1988) classification according to the overall intent of the study

1. Descriptive Providing narrative accounts

2. Interpretative Developing conceptual categories, supporting

or challenging theoretical assumptions

3. Evaluative Involving description, explanation and

judgment

Source: Research Methods for English Language Teachers

(McDonough & McDonough, 2001 p.206)

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 Types of Case Study
3. Stenhouse’s ( 1985 ) classification
1. An ethnographic case study A single in-depth investigation of a system, commonly using
participant observation

2. A critical action case study The purpose of investigation is to bring about change

The introduction of a program is evaluated in detailed to

3. An evaluative case study investigate not only the outcomes but also the processes of
implementation

4. An educational case study Providing an understanding of the educative processes

operating within an institution

Source: Research Method in Education

(Cohen, L; Manion, L & Morrison, K, 2003)

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 Types of Case Study
4. Stake’s ( 1994 ) classification based on the purpose informing the initial
choice
1. Intrinsic The interest is in the case for its own sake

2. Instrumental Selected to help in the understanding of something

else

3. Collective A number of cases are studied jointly in order to

understand a phenomenon, population or general
condition

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Types of case study
• Person: The study of one single individual, generally
using several different research methods.
• Group: The study of a single distinctive set of people,
such as a family or small group of friends.
• Location: The study of a particular place, and the way
that it is used or regarded by people.
• Organization: The study of a single organization or
company, and the way that people act within it.
• Event: The study of a particular social or cultural
event, and the interpretations of that event by those
participating in it.
 Types of case study
Individual Case Study
A learner learning new words
Set of Individual CS
4 teaching techniques compared
Community Studies
3rd grade pupils starting learning English in Vn
Social Group Studies
The use of English words in conversations among the Vietnamese
teenagers
Studies of institutions
Teaching English in a Foreign Owned Education Institution in
Vietnam
Studies of Events
Native speaker teacher of English in Vietnamese schools
 Purposes of Case Study

• Enhance teachers' understanding about their learners.

• Change teachers' teaching methodology.

Research Methods for ELT, 2001:212

• Investigate the reality vs the theory

Borg and Burns (2008): “Formal theory does not play a prominent and direct role in
shaping teachers’ explicit rationales for their work”
 Purposes of case study
• to describe the case in its context
• to understand the complexity and dynamic nature of a particular
entity
• to provide rich information about an individual learner, processes
and strategies he uses to learn and communicate, his own
personalities, attitudes, goals interacting with the learning
environment and precise nature of his linguistic growth
 Uses of cases study
Case study may be used to investigate:
• Learning of a second or foreign language
• Coping with academic content in second/foreign language
(academic listening experiences of ESL Ss in university
courses)
• Scaffolding, problem solving and second/foreign language
learning (L2 learning and content learning interact
younger students)
• Second/foreign language writing
• Reading strategies
• Adult literacy
• Modifying input strategies (teachers in their classroom
interaction)
 Main characteristics
• Collecting data about a specific individual, object ,or
group
• Using multiple sources of evidence, including account
from the subjects themselves.
• Studying events and subjects from real-life contexts.
• Drawing conclusions about the research and limits them
to the subject(s) with the defined context only.
• Seeking to understand complex phenomena from the
participant's point of view.
• Seeking answer to questions of how and why, instead of
who, what, where, how much, and how many.
 Steps for a case study
• Define the problem
• Search and review the literature
• Formulate the research question
• Define participants
• Select data gathering instruments
• Collect data
• Analyze the data
• State the results
• Discussion and recommendation
 Methodology
Five key issues:
1. Initial problem formulation
2. Defining the unit of study and its
boundaries
3. Data collection techniques and researcher
role
4. Analysis – the search for patterns
5. Communicating the experience in a report
 Initial research question

• Research question often arise out of

knowledge gaps or discontent with currently
accepted explanations for phenomena

• Illustrating the experience of one learner are

either consistent with or diverge from
theoretical claims
 Determining the boundaries of the case

• ‘A case tells a story about a bounded system’ (Stake 1988)

• The boundaries depend on the goals of the study
• Benson’s (1989) case study of university academic
listening
Boundaries:
- Listening and note-taking activities of Ss
- Lectures, lecture notes, expectations of lecturer for Ss
performance
• Johnson’s (1987) case study on 2 school district’s
Migrant Education Programs
Boundaries:
- The important programs: ESL bilingual, regular program
- Contextual factors that contributed to sharing Ss’
education experiences: administration, teachers, aides,
students, parents
 A working research design
• To state aspects of the case and its natural
environment that are relevant to goals of study
• A plan, a set of guidelines for researcher’s
activities: what needs to be accomplished to carry
out the study
• Setting out questions to be addressed: unit selected
for study, entity/situations/people to be studied,
data collection procedures, guidelines for analysis,
time involved
 Data collection techniques
Can be entirely naturalistic observation, elicitation
methods and verbal reports, collection of written materials
• Observing natural communication in its settings (both oral
and written): note-taking, audio-recording, video-
recording for verbal interactions, keeping diary or journal
(retrospective rather than live observation), written
production resulting from everyday activities
• Elicitation techniques: the researcher elicits information
techniques: tape recorded conversations, tape recorded
tutoring sections, interviews with learners, teachers, think-
aloud techniques
• Interviewing: highly structured, semi-structured,
unstructured with interview guides.
- Informal interviewing is a central data collection
techniques (ethnographic in orientation)
• Verbal reports: a think-aloud procedure to trace the
mental process
• Collecting existing information as an additional
source of information to data from main
techniques which helps researcher gain a holistic
view of the subset: written work completed for classes,
samples of writing, test data, data from school records,
information about the family/community
 Sources for Data Collection

• Yin (1994) identified six primary sources of evidence for case study
research. The use of each of these might require different skills
from the researcher. Not all sources are essential in every case
study, but the importance of multiple sources of data to the
reliability of the study is well established ( Stake, 1995; Yin, 1994).
The six sources identified by Yin (1994) are:
• Documentation
• Archival records
• Interviews
• Direct observation
• Participant observation
• Physical artifacts
• Three principles of data collection for case studies:
• Use multiple sources of data
• Create a case study database
• Maintain a chain of evidence
The rationale for using multiple sources of data is the
triangulation of evidence. Triangulation increases the
reliability of the data and the process of gathering it. In the
context of data and the process of gathering it. In the
context of data collection, triangulation serves to
corroborate the data collection, triangulation serves to
corroborate the data gathered from other sources. The cost
of using multiple sources and the investigator’s ability to
carry out the task, should be taken into account prior to
deciding on the use of this technique.
 Analysis: a search for patterns
• Analysis strategies vary according to purpose of study and
types of data
• To examine the data for meaningful themes, issues, or
variables
• To discover how data (themes, issues, or variables) are
patterned
• To attempt to explain the patterns
• It is a continual process of looking for meaning by sorting
reiteratively through data
(eg. Processes that Ss use to accomplish writing tasks, analysing
spoken discourse to search for patterns of interest)
 Analyzing Data
• Data analysis consists of examining, categorizing ,
tabulating, or otherwise recombining the evidence to
address the initial propositions of s study’’ (Yin, 1994).
The analysis of case study is one of the least developed
aspects of the case study methodology. The researcher
needs to rely on
• Experience and
• The literature to present the evidence in various ways,
using various interpretations. This becomes necessary
because statistical analysis is not necessarily used in all
case studies. This case employs a series of statistical tests
to help in the presentation of the data to the reader.
 A high quality analysis
• Identify important variables, issues,, themes
• Explain how these patterns interrelate in the
bounded system
• Explain how these interrelationships influence
the phenomena under study
• Open fresh new insights
 Case study vs. Ethnography
Similarities:
1. Provide a portrait of what is going on in a particular
setting
2. Include objective and subjective accounts of data
3. Use qualitative method
Differences:
1. Case study is generally more limited in scope.
2. Ethnography is a more complete account of a
particular culture.
3. Case study can employ quantitative data and
statistical methods.
 Case study vs. experimetal
and survey research
Experimental
Case study research Survey research

2 or more Large,
An individual groups or representative
unit variables samples of
individuals

Whole process A stilled “snapshot” of process

 Criteria for analysing case studies
1. What is the research question?
2. In what context was the research conducted?
3. Who were the participants in the study? How were
they selected? What were their relevant
characteristics?
4. What was the theoretical orientation of the researcher?
5. What was the role of the researcher?
6. What data collection procedures were used? How
much time was spent collecting the data?
7. How were data analyzed? What were the findings?
8. What conclusions are drawn? Are they logically
related to the descriptive data?
9. What is the contribution of the study to our knowledge
of EL/FL learning or teaching?
10. What are the stated applications for teaching?
 Questions for Tutorial 5
1. Find a report of a case study research in applied linguistics and
give your comments on the following checklist:
• Question/hypothesis
• Significance/value of the study
• Subjects
• Procedures
• Types of data
• Type of analysis
• Conclusions
• Further research
• Comments on the internal/external reliability, internal/external
validity, construct validity
2. Propose a list of research topics in applied linguistics that you
think appropriate for case research and give a rationale for your
choice.
3. Work out a research plan for one of the proposed topics and
report it to your Tutorial group.