CASE STUDIES DESCRIPTION

CASE STUDIES DESCRIPTION

Case studies are methods that can be used to be able to develop a comprehensive understanding of an activity. When they are used, they enable an individual to be able to understand a complex system or context. This system employee extensive explanation and analysis. A shared component of this type of evaluation is the reliance on data collection that is detailed and depends on multiple sources. It is mostly first-hand observations. The fact that they provide detailed information concerning the operation of a program is very vital because they result in a deeper understanding of why the program operations relate to the outcomes that are being observed. This also enables an individual to be able to understand how the programs are being implemented. Cases cannot, however, act as statistical representatives since generalizing the findings is usually challenging. The methods they use, such as multiples sources of information, tend to be time-consuming.

The cases are usually designed to meet different goals. The goals can, however, be divided into three different categories. The categories include descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory. Descriptive studies typically provide a detailed description of activity within its context. They often describe what is happening and why in a number of instances to show what the situation is like. Exploratory studies have the aim of describing hypotheses and questions of more extensive consequent studies. It gives information concerning the analytical strategies and the measures of design and even evaluation questions, which may or may not be used in the study. Explanatory studies, on the other hand, focus on establishing a cause and effect relationship to be able to explain which causes results from specific effects.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Case studies are similar to other studies as their first step involves developing questions that are going to be addressed in the study. When it comes to case studies understanding the setting in which the case is in is critical in being able to identify the questions that are going to be used in the research. This, therefore, requires an individual to review the available information on the matter that is going to be studied and collecting a lot of evidence that is related to the design and goals of the program that is going to be evaluated. This can be achieved through conducting interviews with the official s to be able to inform them of the development of the issues that the study is going to address.

In this technique of evaluation, it is therefore critical for a framework of structuring specific questions to be formed. The questions created would address specific hypotheses and cases that are being studied. There are however no common research questions that can be used to set questions that can be used to how case studies can be used to guide how data is going to be collected. Implementation and logic models can also be used when it comes to specifying key elemnbts that can be use to address issues when it comes to case studies. When t comes to evaluation, the avaluators usually use the framework they create from the questions in order to establish and identify dimensions that they are going to use while study and reporting. These dimension can be used to develop research questions and also clarify the data that would be used in order to address each of the questions.

When it comes to the creation of these question a common pitfall is that indviduals is the collection of too much information. Indviduals usually tend to collect pertinent information and also information that can be considred to be irrelevant when it comes to understaidning of trhe event or activity that is being studied. The research farmeworks should therefore be well stryuctured since itr is critical when it comes to defining how data is going to be collecvyted and it can prevent indviduals from collecting too much information that can be considred to be irrelevant. They are different from other quantitative methods that aways focus on questions such as where,how many, who or what. Case studies tend to be prefred when we are trying to answer questions such as why and how.

Research Design

In case studies the evaluators have to choose between single and multiple designs. Designs are very important when it comes to representing cases that are unique even when they are serving a revelatory purpose. Examples of sing;le case studies include the Allisons study concerning the missle crisis. These single studies are usually very valuble when it comes when representative cases are identified whoich can be difficult to achive at times when it comes to program, implementation studies. Multiple case designs are yusually used when providing explanations and making comparisions across cases to provide insignts concerning different issues. These diesgins are pereffed compared to single case designs because of the possibility of missing information that can be considred to be critical if only a single case or program is being studied in a site. Evidence when collected from different sources is usully considred to be more persuasive and the findings robust. These designs are prefreed but they tend to be expenisve when conducted. The overall budget of the evaluation must therefore be considred.

Data Collection

Case studies require and in depth description of the case that is going to be studies. They tend to require multiple sources from which data is going to be collected. The richness of data that is collected in these cases usually makes them to become different from other forms of research. It is also important tp determine trhey type of sources to be used in the collection of data and how it is going to be collected while designing the case. There are different sources that canb be used when it comes to the collection of data. They include;

Interviews

These are among the most important sources when it comes to the collection of data in case studies. These interviews are usually open ended questions in in which the respondents comment about different issues and events. They however has some structure that guides them even if the questions are open ended. They are always carried out on one to one however at times it may be appropriate to carry them out with a group of individuals who have similar experience. It is critical to obtain multiple perspectives on area of interest when interviews are being used. The evaluators have to create detailed notes when they are conducting interviews.

Critique of their evaluation

Internal Validity

Internal validity is usually concerbed with the ability of being able to determine if an intervention has been able to produce an outcome and also to be able to determine the magnitude of the effect. It is very easy to determine the internal validity when using case studies. This is because they tend to involve a detailed collection of data compared to all the other methods that exist. It is therefore easier to be bale to detrermine casual inferences whne using the methd. The method tend to talk to key stakeholders concerning their experinces when it comes to the different events and programs through interviews. The data collection this system uses also tend to ensure that the data that is collected is rich compared to other methods. This makes it easier to know if the intervention has been able to make a difference compared to other methods. This is because they always tend to have a lot of information concerning the events that they are focusing on which at time sleads them falling inti pitfalls sucha s coll;ecting a lot of data which can be considred to be irrelevant.

Statistical conclusion validity

This refres to the measure of how rational the conclusion of a research is. This depends on the size of the samples that have been used in the ecvaluation of the case. Case studies tend to collect a lof of information cpnscerning the event that they arer studying. The study design can also be multiple wehich ensures that the findings can be compared. This is because they provide a lot of insight on the issues which is useful when it comes to making conclusion about the case, The velautors tend to have the ability to intergrate qualitatiove data which often gives a in depth picture which makes result obtained to be in contexts. This also makes the conclusions that the come up with at the end of the study to be valid and more robust compared to the other means that can be used.